


Don't Threaten Me with a Good Time

by MissMegHolden



Category: DCU, Danny Phantom, Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Danny Needs a Hug, Danny is a stubborn boi, Danny-centric, Dash is totally gonna be in this at some point, Drug Use, Ghost Fight, Hero Complex, Hurt Danny, Maybe a little angst, Runaway Danny, Smoking, Vlad is a dick, Wally doesn't believe in ghosts, accidental meetings, and captain cold??, did I mention Jason Todd, or Magic, random football match, self doubt, ugh american football
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:48:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 28,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26384413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissMegHolden/pseuds/MissMegHolden
Summary: Danny Fenton has just witnessed his parents, friends and teacher die at the hand of the nasty burger explosion. To avoid Vlad and becoming Dan he moves to Happy Harbour, hoping to attend school and have a somewhat normal teenage life. Nothing is normal when the Young Justice team are involved though, especially when they take an interest in Danny.
Relationships: Danny Fenton & Bruce Wayne, Danny Fenton & Robin (DCU), Danny Fenton & The Team
Comments: 176
Kudos: 863





	1. Prologue

Sure he fit the profile, black hair, blue eyes and a senseless need to save everybody. Damn hero complex. But standing in front of Bruce Wayne, of all people, and him offering Danny a place to call home. He must be dreaming. He shut his eyes tight, took a deep breath and reopened his eyes. Bruce Wayne was still standing in front of him; the only difference was now he had an eyebrow raised in question.

"Mr Wayne-" Danny started. He didn't actually know what he was going to say to the billionaire. You'd think after coming face to face with the Justice League and their powerhouses he would have more confidence.

"Please, call me Bruce." His black suit was ruffled after the day's events. He didn't seem to find a need to neaten them either since they were in Wayne Manor, his home.

"Bruce. I- er- I thank you for the offer, really, It amazing you would offer to open you home to me, but I don't think-"

"I understand. The offer stands though; you are a bright young man, you'll always have a place here." Danny looked into Bruce's eyes. They held nothing but kindness and compassion, even after everything that had happened within the last six months.

Danny wasn't the same kid that he was six months prior. A few months ago he was in Amity, attending Casper High, being bullied by Dash Baxter and the football jocks. He had Sam and Tucker as his best friends, his sister Jazz, the three of them where the only ones to know his secret identity as Phantom. And back then, his parents were still alive, they were crazy ghost hunters, terrible at cooking, but they were alive, and they loved him.

Now he lived in Happy Harbour, lived is a somewhat correct statement, he still had yet to find a home what wasn't an abandoned subway station or a derelict building, not to mention he had picked up more than a few bad coping habits. He still attended school, but under a different last name so that Vlad couldn't find him. However, the school still wasn't kind, the other students often whispered about him, most of the time it was about his rugged appearance that gave off less of a bad-boy vibe and more of a homeless one, which wasn't completely inaccurate.

In every way, Bruce looked like he wanted to protest Danny's decision; he didn't want the teen in front of him to completely disappear. So he made a last-minute decision instead.

"How about joining the team? Properly this time," Danny opened his mouth looking like he was about to protest, "you could stay at Mount Justice, M'Gann and Connor already live there and even go to the same school as you. You'd be safe and be apart to the team."

The teen took a moment to think; he rubbed the back of his neck whilst his eyes were downcast, trying not to convey too much emotion to the world's greatest detective. The offer was tempting, the mountain had decent food, and he'd never have to wonder where his next meal was coming from. He liked the team, they had become somewhat of a family to him, he loved the all-night video game sessions with Robin and Kid Flash, he loved baking with M'gann and sparring with Artemis and Superboy, they challenged him and made him discover some of his newer talents outside of ghost fighting. Aqualad had even started teaching about Atlantis, their customs and culture, he couldn't hear enough of the stories he told Danny.

"Can I think about it?" He so desperately wanted to say yes there and then, but something was holding him back. He didn't know if it was his pride or sense of duty, but he couldn't say yes straight away.

"Of course, you know where to find the team and me." A soft smile graces Bruce's lips as he watches the teen in front of him. Danny would come around, Bruce knew he had to build up his trust after everything that had happened with Vlad, but he knew that Danny wanted to a part of the team.

"Thank you, Bruce," Danny replied with his own soft smile, thankful that the older man understood and didn't try to push him to make a decision.

That when Danny decided it was about time to take his leave, he bid Bruce, Alfred and Dick (who was listening in on their conversation the whole time, he and Bruce knew he was there) a small farewell as he exited the manor. Once outside, out of habit, he looked around, checking to see if anyone was watching him. After realising what he was doing, he sighed, he no longer needed to hide the fact that he was Phantom from the Wayne family. Instead, he looked up at the smoggy grey Gotham sky and yelled his not so subtle catchphrase.

"I'm going ghost." A blindingly blue ring circled his torso, the ring split into two and travelled up and down his body. The ring enabled his transformation into Phantom, his regular jeans and t-shirt were replaced by a black and silver jumpsuit with a DP logo on his chest. His hair drastically changed from coal black to stark white, and his eyes were no longer the innocent baby blue colour; instead, they were a toxic green that looked like pools of acid. Phantom flew off into the night, not stopping until he reached Happy Harbour, the city he now called home.

Maybe he would take Bruce's offer of joining the team properly, sooner rather than later.


	2. Chapter 1

**Six Months Earlier**

He was exhausted. Danny hadn't stopped flying since dawn, and now the sun was rising, and he had no idea where he was. Just hours before he had witnessed his whole family, his best friends and his favourite teacher, the only people that truly gave a shit about him, get caught in an explosion caused by the faulty boiler and overheated sauce. An 'accident' that could have happened at any time, but Danny had the misfortune of it happening when his teacher wanted to meet with his family and friends about him cheating. Danny witnessed all of this, but he got there too late. He couldn't save them.

So, he flew. He flew home, grabbing the belongings that he thought he would need the most, a couple of spare changes of clothes as well as jackets and a coat. Winter was coming up soon, and he was not going to freeze if he could help it, as well as packing an extra pair of sneakers and boots. His backpack was getting full and heavy; he packed as little toiletries as he could, as well as his phone and charger.

By the time he had finished, there was banging at the Fenton Works front door; he peeked out of his bedroom window. Stood at his door were two police officers, a woman he suspects to be a social worker and Vlad Masters.

"Daniel, please answer the door. We need to talk to you." He heard Vlad's muffled voice through the door. The fruit loop, Danny most defiantly was not, ever, going to answer the door him.

He knew his parents had Vlad down as one of his godparents, and with his living so close to them, he was the most logical first choice as his next guardian. He would never go live with Vlad; he wouldn't let him win. The banging on his door got louder and more impatient, Danny took that as his cue to disappear.

"Going ghost." Two rings encircled Danny's body and allowed the teen to turn into his alter-ego, Phantom. He picked up his full backpack and threw it onto his back. He heard the door finally open, Danny changed himself so that he was invisible and intangible, making it so he could get out of his home undetected. And so, began his flight.

By the time Danny landed, he felt numb. He didn't know what to think or to feel, and he didn't know where he was or where he was going to go next.

He finally changed back into his human self, and he crumbled. His knees felt too weak to keep holding himself up, his arms felt like limp cooked noodles. Tears welled up in his eyes, and before he knew it, they were rolling down his cheek.

"What do I do now? Jazz, Sam, Tucker, Mom, Dad? I don't know what to do." Danny slammed his fist into the ground of the alleyway he had landed in. The tears continued to roll down his cheeks, and he wiped his other arm furiously over his eyes, hoping that it was stopping the dam breaking waterfall.

By the time the waterworks had stopped, the sun was in the middle of the sky, and Danny was exhausted. There were too many emotions going on at once for him to make sense of, fear, anger, grief. He was hopeless.

"I better find out where I am." He picked himself off of the back-alley ground and dusted himself off. He slung his backpack over his shoulder; it was odd how much of a high schooler he looked like, despite the red puffy eyes and what had just happened in his life.

Walking down the street, Danny noted how much cleaner and less dreary this town was compared the Amity, though he scratched Amity's dreariness up to the fact they had ghost attacks almost every day. He passed a shop with many TV's in the window, all of them were playing different channels, and all of them were muted, except one—the New Channel.

"Breaking news," The newscaster was a young woman with brown hair tied up in a ponytail and had way too much makeup on, "Amity Park suffers a heart-breaking tragedy, a devastating explosion took place at the local Nasty Burger chain restaurant, taking the lives of six people, Sam Manson, Tucker Foley as well as taking the lives of Madeline Fenton and Jack Fenton, two renown scientist and inventors as well as their daughter Jasmine Fenton, and a teacher at the local high school Mr L Lancer. It was believed that they were meeting behind the restaurant for a meeting to discuss another student, Daniel Fenton, who is now missing. Police are investigating the situation thoroughly and implore the public to come forward with any information about what happened at the restaurant or about young Daniel's whereabouts. The local High School has taken a day in mourning for their lost teacher and students, Hilary has more information on the scene-"

Danny stopped listening after that. It really happened, he had hoped that it had all been some sort of horrible nightmare, but the evidence of otherwise was right in front of him. The screens then went on to another woman interviewing some of the other students and teacher of Casper High. Danny walked away; he didn't want to hear anything they had to say, they didn't care, the people that did care were now dead.

The streets were filled with people that paid him no mind, the shops were full and buzzing with life. 'This place almost seems too happy' Danny thought to himself. 'Is that a beach? How far did I fly?'

The beach was pretty busy, kids playing in the ocean, adults lounging on sunbeds and towels trying to catch the last of the ending summers sun. There was a group of about four teens that stood out to Danny, three of the teens were in the water throwing a ball around and splashing each other. The biggest of the three, not that he was fat more just very well-toned seemed to be getting more and more annoyed at being splashed ever so often. Then there was the fourth teen; he was sat on a towel watching the other three and smiling to himself. What caught Danny's eye of the fourth one was the tattoos across his back and down his arms, they looked like eels? Or maybe snakes? His light blond buzzcut stood out against his deep brown skin.

'Maybe he can tell me where I am.'

"Excuse me?" Danny called to the teen as he walked closer to him. The teen turned his head, and Danny was stunned by his pale green eyes and high cheekbones.

"Can I help you?" The teen had stood up to meet Danny as he approached him.

"This is going to sound really strange. Could you tell me where I am?" Danny fiddled with the straps of his backpack; he felt nervous at the intense gaze the blonde was giving him.

"You are currently in Happy Harbour, in Rhode Island," Happy Harbour, Danny somewhat knew the area. His parents had taken Jazz and him there before for a ghost convention a few years prior. "Are you alright? Are you in need of any assistance?"

"No, that's alright, thank you," Danny spoke quickly, "I better get going, thanks again." Before the other teen could reply Danny shot down the street in hopes of maybe finding a cafe or a shelter, his stomach was growling furiously.

"Kal, everything alright, man?" Robin called to his teammate as the black-haired stranger practically ran away from him.

"I believe so, but I am not entirely sure." Kaldur turned back to his teammates, Connor and M'gann were still in the water watching them.

"Who was that?" Robin gestured to the street where Danny had run off to.

"I do not know; he asked what city he was in."

"That's odd," Robin took a moment to think, but eventually brushed it off, "We were hoping to play chicken and need an even number, wanna join us?"

"Most definitely."


	3. Chapter 2

The first week in Happy Harbour had gone well for Danny, as far as well can go when the police are searching for him, and a loon is trying to make him his son. So far, Danny had spent his nights at a shelter after trying to find a job to earn money during the daytime. He was currently stood in the line to the shelter, it was half an hour until it opened and started letting people in, and he couldn't be more excited to get inside, the night was starting to get a stinging chill as autumn closed in.

He was rubbing his hands together, trying to get the feeling back in his thumbs without any luck, when an older man bumped into him and practically shoved him out of the line. He grunted and glared at the man; he turned to get back into the line when an arm stopped him. He traced the arm back to the source, the security guard.

"What're you doing, son? You know what happens to cutters." The security guard was giving Danny a hard stare as he held him back from the line.

"I wasn't cutting, I swear, this guy just shoved me out of the line." He looked back at the guy behind him, hoping he would stick up for him. Instead, the guy simply glanced at Danny then moved forward slightly.

"Sorry kid, but if you're gonna cut I've got to ban you."

"What? No, that's not fair! I wasn't even cutting." He retorted. Surely, they wouldn't turn away a kid.

"Don't make me escort you away kid, don't put up a fuss." The security guard pressed; he didn't want to create a scene with a kid.

Danny sighed and stepped out of the line properly; he wasn't going to give any of them the satisfaction of him looking back. He needed to find another place to sleep for the night, that was the only shelter in Happy Harbour. He wandered the city, the filled streets that went from being day shoppers to the night drinkers, the beach had emptied of those wanting a suntan, to the teens that wanted to party after their first week of school. None of these places was safe for him to sleep, however.

After about an hour of looking he had made his way into the more rundown side of Happy Harbour, there were a few abandoned buildings that looked like they had squatters in. As cliche as it was, there was an old metal trash can with a fire blazing inside and at least four old homeless men around it. He headed further down the street and found the entrance to a subway station, going down the steps it became evident that nobody had been there for a long time, if the cobwebs were anything to go by. So, the subway station was abandoned as well.

'This should be safe, at least for the night.' As he reached the bottom, he realised the station might not be as abandoned as he hoped. He looked further down the rails and saw the light of a fire flickering on the wall. He decided to try his luck; maybe they were friendly. Getting closer to the light he noticed the ones occupying the area were kids, younger than Danny kind of kids.

"Hey, mind if I join you?" The eldest of the lot, he must have been only twelve, looked Danny up and down before nodding his head and gesturing to a place near the fire. "Thanks." He took the seat.

"The name's Felix, by the way," the twelve-year-old spoke as Danny made himself comfortable. He had a choppy black hair cut, sharp green eyes and his clothes looked like they were practically hanging off him his, his skin was a pasty white. He looked too skinny for his own good. He was also wearing multiple layers, ready for the chilly night.

"Danny," Felix nodded his head. He leant back, and some of the other kids came out from the shadows to sit around the fire.

"You new in town, Danny?" A girl piped up; she looked to be the same age as Felix. She had long tangled ginger hair; freckles dusted over her nose, making her doe-like blue eyes stand out. The jeans she was wearing were tatted and ripped, her grey top was dirty but not too noticeable, and her fur lined leather jacket was wearing through.

"Yeah, you can tell?"

"Yeah, you have that kind of domesticated look about you, like you've never slept on anything besides a bed." She stated.

"Jenny, Jenny," the girl turned towards some of the smaller children, "we found the mouse!"

"Good job, guys! Now take care of that thing." She spoke kindly to them. They couldn't have been older than seven.

"You mean to look after or kill?"

"Up to you guys," She turned back to Danny as they gushed about gaining a new pet. "Where have you been staying?"

Danny had shed his backpack and was now using it as a pillow. "The shelter down London Street."

"Dang, that place is supposed to be shady as heck," Felix added. He was surprised Danny had the guts to stay in that shelter, especially with the kind of reputation it had. "Heard that place was a front for drug runners."

"It wasn't that bad while I was there, you had to sleep with one eye open, but it was ok." He remembered the first few nights when a couple of older men kept popping their heads through his doorway. He heard them openly discussing his backpack. So he had gained the habit of looping one of his arms through the straps and using it as a pillow, not allowing anyone near it.

"You get caught skipping the line?" Jenny asked as she threw another log on the fire. The log looked like it had once been a part of a chair, or maybe a table.

"Supposably, a guy shoved me out of the line, and the guard turned me away."

"That sounds about right, that place is a first come first served kind of place, it's a brutal process, they're nastier to kids than anyone else in that line." Felix nodded his head at his explanation.

"You can stay here if you want, as long as you like. It's really the only safe place for kids since, well, we don't really mind the rats and adults don't really like walking up and down the stairs." Jenny pitched in. Felix and Jenny shared a look; they'd rather Danny stay with them there where it was safe than out there, where the adults could do who knows what to him.

"Thank you, I appreciate it."

It was about another week later when Danny decided it would be best for him to go back to school. He had gained somewhat of a routine; he had become friends with one of the gym's receptionists who let him in once every three days so that he could use the showers. Otherwise, he would use the public restrooms in the station, which miraculously still had running water, to brush his teeth and wash his hair in the sink. No use looking homeless, the school might suspect something was up and put him in the system, then Vlad would find him. No, thank you.

The high school had requested for him to fill in a form with all his information, though he'd have to change quite a lot of his information so not to be detected and thrown to the dogs. One of the big things he'd have to change is his name. Sure, he could keep the Daniel part, he noted that he preferred to be called Danny, but his last name he most definitely had to change. He racked his brain for a while, thinking of what he could change it to, then it came to him. He could use his mother's maiden name, Soucie. Danny Soucie, he liked the sound of that.

Then he had to fill in the location of his last school, it was easy enough to say that he was home-schooled, including the reason he was suddenly going to a public school due to his parent newest jobs taking up their time, and no longer had enough time to teach him.

The next question asked for his address, somewhere to send the letters. He asked Felix about this, and he told Danny about a house nearby that allowed kids to use their address for such occasions. That was quickly filled in. Lastly, they wanted his parent's names and signatures. This is where Danny decided to be clever about it; he got Jenny and Felix to fill in those parts just so the school would see that it was different handwriting and think that it really was his parents that signed it. He allowed them to get creative with the names as long as they kept the last name.

Jenny had singed his mother's name as Florence Soucie, keeping the whole name French. In comparison, Felix had signed his father's name as Rafael Soucie. The school would probably think they were rich, pretentious snob that didn't have enough time for their son. Great. The school was going to be awesome.


	4. Chapter 3

Today was Danny's first day at Happy Harbour high school, and he was shitting bricks. What if someone recognised him? What if the school reported him to the police? What if they found out about his not so human powers?

He decided if something ghostly happened whilst he was at school, he would ignore it. Easy and simple right? Wrong. If he can do something about it when the others can't, he has to do something. It would be morally wrong if he did nothing—goddamn hero complex.

"Danny, we can hear you thinking from here!" Felix shouted from the old concession stand. He was getting ready for the day; Felix was young enough to ask for odd jobs around the neighbourhood without the adult turning him away.

"I can't help it! There's so much that can go wrong." Danny looked around him. Jenny was getting the younger kids ready for school, making sure they had their coats on them, and everything was in their bags. The younger kids were in the help scheme, so they get free meals at the grade school they all went to, the grade school were very understanding about the kid's positions, they even helped scout of potential parents and did thorough background checks on them to make sure they were safe. Three kids had got fostered that way.

"Well, don't think about it then!" She shouted as she finished getting the kids ready. Jenny was the only one who stayed there during the day, taking the opportunity to be quiet to clean up and make the subway station somewhat liveable.

"Don't you ever get nervous?" Danny had wandered over to Jenny.

"I've been on the streets since I was seven, being 'nervous' gets you killed." Felix sauntered over by this point. Danny had seen this place as safe enough to keep some of his stuff; the toiletries were permanently in the restroom; his shoes and coats were in the tent that he shared with Felix.

"Alright, Jen, we get it geez," Jenny's social skills weren't exactly up to par, "you gonna be alright here, by yourself."

"Always am, even have enough quarters to get some washing done at the laundromat." She had gone over to the bedrolls and started to pick out the clothes that were starting to smell or was just too dirty to be worn again.

"Alright, we'll see you later, Jenny." Danny waved her goodbye as he and Felix and the rest of the kids left the subway station. They both lead the younger kids to school before heading their separate ways.

It took half an hour before he stood outside of Happy Harbour High School. The place was even more daunting than the last time he was here, though he suspected that was because he's an actual student this time. He walked in straight to the office to receive his schedule; other students looked at his oddly and started whispering to their friends. He swears he saw two of the teens from the beach the other day.

The office was tranquil for the early morning; the principal's office door was already shut tight with the principal already inside talking on the phone, probably too angry parents. The receptionist was currently pouring monster into her morning coffee. Honestly, it was a mood.

"Excuse me?" Danny called. The receptionist took a large gulp of her morning brew before addressing the child in front of her.

"You're Danny, right?" He nodded his head, "let me print you out your schedule and call someone to show you around," her typing was incredibly quick on her keyboard. Soon the printer in the other room came to life, she then pressed the microphone button for the tannoy speakers, and her voice was heard all around the school, "Megan Morse, I repeat Megan Morse can you please make your way to the reception. Thank you." She turned off the tannoy and nodded to Danny, "you might as well take a seat sweetheart, she'll be here soon."

Danny did as instructed, took a seat and waited patiently. Soon enough, a redhead ran through the door; she looked slightly out of breath and have a very toned ravenette following after her. 'I saw those two on the beach last week!'

"Hi, I'm Megan Morse, am I in trouble?" She called to the receptionist with a panicked look on her face.

"Is she in trouble?" The tall guy repeated an equal look of worry on his face.

"Would you two calm down," the receptionist sighed at the two teenagers, "Megan, you're a part of the welcoming committee, and we have a new student," she then pointed at Danny, and suddenly all attention was on him.

"Hello, Megan," she slaps her forehead and goes over to Danny, "Hi I'm Megan, and that's Connor, we'll show you around and help you get to your classes, can I have a look at your schedule?" He meekly nods and hands her the piece of paper, "well it looks like we have almost every class together, both Connor and I were placed down a year so we could catch up on the time we missed."

"Alright," she hands back his schedule, he keeps it in his hands so he can start to memorise it, "my names Danny by the way."

"I'm so sorry; I forgot to ask." Danny quickly realised that she would be somewhat hyperactive. Meanwhile, Connor boy had barely said a word. "You were the one talking to Kal at the beach the other day, right?"

"Kal? Do you mean the blonde with the tattoos?"

"So, it was you! I knew you looked familiar." How was she this energetic so early in the morning?

"Why did you ask him for the location?" Connor finally pitched into the conversation.

This took Danny back; he had no answer for that he didn't think anyone would have asked him that at the ready. "Erm, well, I, it's kinda embarrassing," the lie was easily rolling off his tongue from his experience of fighting ghost and getting out of class to do so, "I fell asleep on the bus here, and I thought I missed my stop as I got off. I should have asked the driver where I was, I know, but I forgot."

"Oh, that makes sense," Connor sent Danny a look. He didn't trust him, as Danny spoke his heart rate was elevated; the only reason for it the elevate was because he must have been lying. If there was one thing Connor hated most was liars. But why would this kid lie about how he got here? This Danny kid was suspicious, and Connor didn't like it one bit.

They reached their homeroom class just as the warning bell rang, in which their teacher was already there. She was a stubby woman as short as she was wide, she gestured for them to sit down until her eyes reached Danny.

"Wait," Danny stopped just in front of her, "I don't remember you being in my homeroom." Danny grimaced as he watched his new teacher's chins wobble as she spoke.

"I just transferred here; I'm Danny Soucie." The final bell rang, and the final trickle of students wandered into the room. They all took their seat with their bag at their feet; some were already resting their head on their desks feeling done with the day even though it had just begun.

"Introduce yourself to the class and take your seat." She couldn't be any more uninterested. He turned to face the only one smiling at him was M'gann.

"Hi, I'm Danny Soucie. I've just transferred here." Barely anyone was paying attention to him, and he was half tempted to say that he was haft ghost to see what kind of reaction he got if any. But he knew he wouldn't do that; he liked his secret identity.

The day went faster than Danny expected, and soon it was lunch, M'gann practically dragged him to sit with her and Connor as soon as he got his questionable food from the lunch lady.

"So, Danny, where are you originally from?" She asked innocently as she ate something off her tray.

"Erm," there it was again, Connor noted, his heartbeat had started racing again, Danny was about to lie, "here and there really, my family and I are constantly moving around."

"Oh, that seems really hard on you, school wise that is."

"Not really, I've been home-schooled most of my life." That was a lie, most positively a lie. Connor could tell.

"This is your first time in a real high school then! Just like us!" The rest of lunch went similarly. M'gann asking question after question and Danny having to lie his ass off to answer nearly all of them. Each answer made Connor wearier of the boy if he had to lie for every answer then he didn't want M'gann around him. He didn't want her to get hurt. Connor was going to get to the bottom of his lies, for his peace of mind but mainly for M'gann.


	5. Chapter 4

That Monday went on too long for Connor Kent. The new kid, Danny, was way too suspicious for his liking. He kept lying throughout the day, and one thing he learnt is that you don't trust liars. M'gann and Connor made their way back to the mountain, both of them were weary from the day and dreading the homework they would have to do once they got back.

They got halfway through their math homework, twenty algebra questions, before the rest of the team made their appearance. One by one each of them trickled in, first to come in was Artemis who had brought her homework and had started on it alongside the other two. Soon after came Robin who immediately started working on something from his holographic computer built into his glove. He had barely said anything to the other before going into some intense research. Then Kaldur came in and instantly headed into the training room, to test out a new technique he had recently discovered. Lastly and most ironically, Wally came in last, running straight for the kitchen.

Connor couldn't keep it in any longer; he had to talk to M'gann about Danny. "You can't talk to him anymore." He yelled out, making M'gann and the rest of them turn to him.

"Is Connor jealous of someone talking to Megalicious?" Wally asked in between stuffing chips into his mouth.

"Do you mean, Danny?" Connor nodded his head to her, "why? What's wrong with him now?"

"He was lying the entire time he spoke to you." His statement was simple; he didn't even look up from his homework as he spoke.

"Why- why would he lie?" M'gann suddenly felt overwhelmingly disappointed. Robin, who was typing incisively on his holo computer, had now stopped and was listening intently.

"Did you say, Danny? Do you have his last name?" He asked, looking up at M'gann.

"He said it was Soucie," She finished off her homework and gave Robin her full attention, "though if Connor says he's lying, that might not even be his name."

Robin gave this more thought; he looked into what had happened in Amity Park, with the Nasty Burger explosion. Everything that had happened there had happened too fast, the police and social services were too quick, and the billionaire Vlad Masters was too involved in the case. Recently Masters’ had made a public plea to help find his godson, which in itself seemed innocent but there was something about him, his body language maybe, or the way he spoke made Robin think that the plea wasn't as innocent as it seemed.

"What did he look like? This Danny kid?"

"He was so nervous, think it was just first day jitters, humans get those right?" She asked before focusing back on the question Robin had asked her, "well, he had black fluffy hair, really icy blue eyes, he was kind of small, you know and quite skinny as well."

"That sounds like a kid I met a couple of days ago," Wally spoke as he jumped over the back of the couch to sit next to Robin.

"Wait; what? Explain?" Robin's focus was now fully taken off of the holo computer.

"So, like a couple of days ago after that mission in India, I went out for snacks, we didn't have any in the mountain, and you know how fast my metabolism is. Well, when I got to this corner shop, it's the stand-alone kind, not the chain kind, it also has the best food at excellent prices, the chips there are to die for-"

"Wally, you're getting off track." Artemis pitched in, wanting him to get to the point.

"Right! So, like, just as I'm about to enter this kid comes out, fluffy black hair, icy blue eyes, his was really apologetic, constantly saying sorry even though I caused him to drop all of his stuff. But he was really skinny and small, and I thought he was like Rob's age, not a high schooler. I'm not going to lie he gave this homeless vibe." Wally ended his explanation drooling slightly as he thought about those chips.

"He's in Happy Harbour then, but that doesn't explain how he got here so fast or where he's living." Robin mused as he went over all the information he had just received.

"Guys, we've only known Danny less than a day, and you're all making up conspiracy theories about him." M'gann chipped in. At some point during Wally's explanation, she had gotten up and started mixing the ingredients to make cookies. "That isn't fair, talking about him without him able to defend himself, he could have a complicated life. I think he mentioned being home-school and his parents being really strict."

"But if Connor is right, then he could have been lying about that as well." M'gann was getting really fed up with her team, attacking her new friend like that.

"Guys, just stop-" before she could say any more the zeta tube announced the arrival of Black Canary.

"Alright team, training starts in five minutes, so suit up and stretch." She headed into the training room. M'gann slammed down her bowl of cookie dough, thanking whoever that the bowl was made out of plastic and not anything shatterable, and flew out of the room.

"I'll investigate later." Robin closed down his holo computer and headed into the training room.

* * *

Danny was more than tired; he was tired and cold. The night had crept up on him whilst he spent his time in the library after school, catching up on everything he had missed in the last few weeks. It turned out it was a lot, especially with science and maths. The librarian was kind enough; she was a young woman with dyed blue hair turning slightly green at the tips; she had way too much patience for the students that visited every day. She had set Danny up with a library card, with it he was able to take up to ten books out for a fortnight.

Danny had picked out relevant books to his classes, catching up on history and algebra and chemistry, which were only four books, then he picked out three children's book that he could read to the little ones during the week.

The nights were getting darker earlier now, so he walked back to the subway station in the dark. He kept an eye out for every corner, every alleyway, every shadow, he knew that he was paranoid, but over the last few days, he couldn't shake the feeling that someone was following him making the night seem a bit more sinister than what it normally does.

Then something caught his eye in one of the alleys, as he got closer, a blue mist escaped his mouth. Looking around himself to make sure nobody was around or could see him, he dived behind a dumpster just inside the alley.

"I'm going ghost." He whispered. Two glowing blue rings spouted from his torso; one travelled up his body and the other down. He was no longer Danny Fenton at that moment and had changed into his hero alter-ego Danny Phantom.

Turning invisible, he searched further down the alley, looking for the ghost that could have made his senses go off. It was in the corner of his eye again, movement near the alley's front, a dark shadow moving into the building. Danny turned intangible to follow it through the walls; he floated around the old house.

The place was rundown, the floorboards were exposed in most rooms, and the edges had started to rot away from the mix of termites, and damp, the wallpaper on the walls were peeling off the show the yellowed crumbling plaster behind. Most of the windows were so dirty that the glass could no longer be seen through, the windowsills were decaying, the paint chipped off it, and the curtains were falling apart, moths had eaten holes into the fabric. The furniture was a mix of covered in off-white sheets covered in dust and rotting, the shelves of a bookcase had broken along with the weight of the books.

He drifted over a beat-up rug in hopes to get into the adjoining room, though he found himself unable to move away from the area of the rug.

"What is-"

"I've got you now, demon!" A voice called like it found it's ah-ha moment. It didn't sound American in the slightest; the voice gave off a Liverpudlian twang to it. The man walked into the room, he had short blonde hair styled up, a chiselled jaw, stood at least six feet tall, and his beige trench coat didn't hide his lean form. He wore a plain white button-up shirt under the trench coat, a pair of black slacks and an annoying red tie. But what stood out about the man most were his bright blue eyes. "Aw shit, you're not the demon! Who are you? Chas, who is this pillock?"

Another man, Chas, came into the room he towered over the other man, definitely taller than six-foot, he had swept-back brown hair and dark stormy grey eyes. He had a round happy face that was a giant contrast to his buddy's, who looked like he would willingly murder someone with a spork.

"I don't think that's the demon you were hunting, John," Chas spoke to the now known John.

"Well, no shit Sherlock, I don't think the demon looks like a hero wannabe." John pulled his coat back and reached into his back pocket, pulling out a smoke. He placed it between his lips, and before he could light it, Danny spoke up.

"You know those things could kill you, right?"

"And it talks, fan-fucking-tastic." He took his engraved golden lighter and lit his cigarette. "So, what are you doing in this kind of place, Casper?"

"I was following a ghost, probably the same one as you both." Danny floated to the ground and sat with his legs crossed. He balanced his elbow on his knee, and rested his face on his palm, finding nothing else that he could do since a rug trapped him.

"I even set up the circle perfectly!" John sighed as he blew out a puff of smoke, "John Constantine, exorcist, demonologist and master of the dark arts. And that's Chas, taxi driver."

"So, ghost hunters then, strange, why haven't you tried to kill me yet or banished me to hell, or whatever you do?"

"Not ghost hunters, there's more to it than ghosts, Casper. Besides, you're not evil, can tell, you don't have a malicious bone in your dead body." John sat down in the disintegrating chair facing Danny while Chas folded his arms over his chest, "you got a name, Casper?"

"It's Phantom, but people had a tendency to call me Invis-o-Bill, I don't even know who came up with that name, it just appeared in the papers on day."

"John, I think we should let this one go-"

"That's my decision to make, don't want him going off and killing a load of people now, do we?"

"I haven't killed anyone in my life... well, afterlife." Danny interrupted them, "how is this rug keeping me here, anyway?"

"There's a demon trap underneath it, turns out it works for ghosts as well. Why were you following that demon, then?"

"I hunt ghost and put them back in their place, that's what I do." Danny was sick of not being able to move away from the old ratty rug.

"But that was a demon! A very powerful one that I might add, you don't have experience in that field, do you?" John suddenly stood from the chair, knocking it backwards at his sudden outburst.

"I-I guess I don't."

"Then why did you follow it!?"

Danny shrugged, and that seemed to piss Constantine off more, "I just wanted to help."

"It got away! It didn't help!" He sighed and slumped back down in the chair. When John was arguing with Danny, Chas had pulled up the chair to its upright position. "You're not entirely a ghost, are you?" He took a few moments to calm down before he asked the question.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I can feel something else mixed in there with you."

"Okie, I think you're high, that's enough of twenty questions, so can you let me out of here? Please?" He added the ‘please’ for good measure; he didn't want to anger the man any more than what he already had.

"Fine! Chas, would you do the honours?" John sauntered off into the other room whilst Chas pulled back the rug and scrubbed out part of the circle. The forcefield seemed to go down; Danny tested out this theory by sticking his leg out of the rug's circumference. Being happy that it didn't bounce back into the rug he flew out of it and faced Chas one last time.

"It's been a pleasure, but let's not do it again anytime soon."

John piped in from the other room, "We better fucking not!" Danny had to stifle his laughter before he flew off back to the subway station.


	6. Chapter 5

The October air clawed at Danny's skin that wasn't covered. It was the first day of the famous spooky season, well for Danny every season was the spooky season. Shops had decorated their windows with cobwebs, ghost and pumpkin stickers and cauldrons. One shop, Danny noted, had gone full out with the decorations. It was a little cafe called Spooks Break, that cafe was born for Halloween, there were cobwebs in the windows with plastic spiders dangling from it. Styrofoam gravestones stood outside near the entrance each one had skull and crossbones on it with glowing red LED eyes. Inside the floor was covered in a mist that came from the witches cauldron placed next to the till.

The cafe itself was regular in size; it had about ten different tables that ranged from being a two-seater to a four-seater. The counter held many sandwiches and pastries, and there was a giant chalkboard mounted on the wall with all their drinks, hot and cold written on it. There was seating outside as well; there were only five tables outside, and a dog bowl full of water.

As he got closer to the cafe, he noticed someone very familiar sitting at one of the outside tables. In fact, as he looked closer, he noticed it was two familiar someone’s. He first saw fiery blue hair tied up in a blue ponytail, pale skin that had a blue tint to it, her right arm had a black glove covering it while the other was left exposed. The other sitting at the table had choppy green hair, pale green skin, and a red leather jacket to cover most of her.

"Ember? Kitty?" He finally got close enough to see them both properly. The two of them turned to him hearing their names being called, as soon as their eyes landed on him, their mouths dropped, and their eyes widened just a fraction.

"Sparky!" Ember was up in less than a second. She had made her way over to the teen. She unexpectedly wrapped her arms around him, Danny had no idea how to react, sure their relationship was slowly getting better before the explosion, but he never anticipated for her to hug him. Too many emotions came over him all too fast, he lifted his arms to hug her back but found himself gripping on to her black top, burying his head into her shoulder and for the first time since he got to Happy Harbour he sobbed. He felt all the pain he had bottled up and pushed aside in favour of trying to survive this new life he was slowly growing accustomed to.

As his tears finally dried, only after a few minutes, he realised Kitty had joined in on the hug, she was stroking his hair with her other arm wrapped around him. It was oddly calming.

"Hey kiddo, better?" Kitty asked as she pulled away. Ember was in no way going to let go of Danny, and the kid had brightened up her life after their first meeting. After they got all that mess brushed under the rug, they started hanging out with each other more; they had even given each other nicknames that only the other could call them.

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"Don't even go there, Sparky, why don't you come sit with us?" Ember didn't give him a chance to answer or more likely to decline. Kitty had dragged over another chair from another table and had gotten him to sit down. Ember sauntered into the cafe to order a drink for Danny but noticing how much skinnier he was from the last time she had seen him she decided to get him a sandwich and some pastries. The barista told her that he would bring it all out to her, and she didn't need to wait around, so, she made her way back over to her table.

"So, what happened, kiddo? You disappeared, we all thought you were dead, but like properly dead with no afterlife." Kitty started. She knew that they needed to get this conversation out of the way.

"I wish I were," he sighed, the barista came out at that moment with a tray in his hands, he placed down the plate with the sandwich and pastries on the table, then placed down a strawberry milkshake before he headed back inside, "there- there was an explosion at the Nasty Burger, my family, my friends, even my teacher was there when it happened... I saw it all happen, I was supposed to save them, and I was too late."

"Oh Sparky, that's why you ran, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I knew Vlad wasn't going to let up as soon as he found out."

"Why don't you want him to be your new official guardian? You would be rich, have a roof over your-" Kitty stopped herself. The look Danny was giving her was downright heart-breaking, well if she had a beating heart. His eyes were still red and puffy but staring wide at her; his nose was matching his eyes in the red department; his mouth was slightly open before he snapped his jaw closed. He looked down at the hem of his jacket. He looked so lost.

"Vlad, he- I-I can't go to him, he's tried to kidnap me, make me renounce my dad and make me his son, he tried to get my dad out of the picture so he could be with my mom, he stole my DNA to create clones of me, he's taken away my powers before, I mean that was until I got the belt off but still, he manipulative, arrogant and so cruel. I could never- never let him be my guardian." Danny quickly whipped his eyes after felling the waterworks start again.

"Shit Danny, I didn't know it was that bad, I knew he had at least a few screws loose, but I didn't realise-" Kitty started; she didn't even know to finish was she was saying. Ember felt absolutely useless in this situation, her friend was hurting, and it was because of all of their ignorance.

"It's fine-"

"No, it's not!" Ember shouted gaining the eyes of a few bypassers, "I'm going to talk to Skulker, he's still working with Plasmus, he listens to me, maybe I can get him to stop that stupid little partnership."

Danny rested his hand on Ember's arm closest to him, he could see how worked up she was getting for his sake, and it honestly made him smile. Ember calmed down under Danny's gentle touch.

"So, what are you both doing in Happy Harbour?" He decided to change the subject.

"Oh, you know, just some girl time, Spectra was too busy to come, but the portal's still open, so we thought why not explore. Besides, I wanted to go to my hometown." Kitty explained as she pushed Danny's sandwich closer to him after noticing he hadn't even touched. He had a slightly guilty look on his face as he picked it up and finally took a bite.

"You're from Happy Harbour?" He asked in between bites.

"That's right, Johnny was from Gotham, and we ran away together, that's how we ended up in Amity."

"That oddly makes sense."

The barista came out of the shop and headed straight for their table. "Excuse me? I don't mean to be rude, but you spooky outfits are absolutely amazing!"

"Thank you, sweetie," Kitty replied alas the barista was not finished.

"Thing is, we're looking for seasonal staff here, and I think you ladies would be a great fit." He looked at Ember and Kitty expectantly hoping that they would agree.

"Although that sound amazing, we have our hands full, but I'm sure Danny here wouldn't mind the work." Ember turned to the young barista to gauge his reaction. He pursed his lips like he had just swallowed a particularly sour lemon slice and sent a slight glare Danny's way.

"Of course," his demeanour changed almost instantly, putting on a smile for his customers, "how old are you, Danny?"

"Fifteen." Danny all but mumbled.

"Great, so if you would bring in your resume, I can hand that to my boss for the seasonal work." The barista left soon after. Danny couldn't believe that the girls had just tried to get him a job, out of everything they could have done that was last on his list.

Their chatter went on until some this odd happened. The ground started to rumble and quake. The concrete split below their feet and giant vines rose from the terra foundations. Danny watched as the destruction of the vines cascaded down the street, uprooting the concrete and wrapping around the buildings. Danny looked inside the cafe to see the TV on the news channel; the barista turned it louder.

The newscaster was quick to announce what was happening around the globe. "The vines have taken over many cities, the main cause of concern is in the city of Superman, Metropolis. While Captain Marvel, Batman and Zatara struggle to take care of the plant problem spores containing Joker venom was released causing the death of three firemen-" Danny didn't need to hear anymore. Three deaths were three deaths too many.

He ran back outside, found cover from all the panicking and screaming civilians and changed into Phantom. Whether they liked it or not, the Justice League was getting Phantom's help, and they'll have to suck it up.


	7. Chapter 6

Gotham was just as gloomy as Danny had always imagined. The skies were a permanent grey with the clouds overcast, and it looked like that it could rain at any time, like the skies the city itself was grey, the skyscrapers looked as if they held no life. The only colour came from the giant green vine that was currently destroying the city. The flowers spouting off the vines were picking up cars that had been abandoned and were throwing them into the building. The ground was covered in rubble from where the vines had exited the ground and shattered glass that made it dangerous to take a step.

It was worse than Danny had anticipated. Batman's attacks were in vain as more vines sprouted from the fallen ones, reminding him of the Greek myth of a Hydra, the monster that when one head was cut off another two would grow in its place.

Danny floated down just as Batman jumped out of his jet as a vine wrapped around it and crushed the poor machine.

"Batman." That's all he needed to say as Batman turned to face him. He nodded to Captain Marvel and Zatara to continue dealing with the vines, they nodded back and flew back up.

"Phantom." Batman had been fully aware of Phantom for the past year. He saw the good he was doing in Amity Park and looked past what the media said about the young hero. The dark knight had even visited Amity to see how Phantom worked. Eventually, after a shaky introduction, he had left giving Phantom a League communicator if he ever needed their help.

"Looks like you need help, where do you need me?" Danny knew it was best to straight be with the Batman. It would save wasted time where he could be useful.

"Bayou Bartholomew, Louisiana, the team are there, and they are taking on the Joker, Poison Ivy, Wontan, Black Adam, Count Vertigo, Automatic Skull and Ultra-Humanite. They call themselves the Injustice League."

Phantom nodded and flew off in the direction he knew Louisiana to be in. He saw the grassland slowly turn into a swampy landscape; he decided to fly just slightly above the tree line and turn invisible. He'd be no use to Batman's team if he were caught as soon as he was on the scene.

As he flew, he could see the mother plant. She was giant and could easily tower over any of the other vines he saw that day, right up until he watched blinking lights that turned it into a Christmas tree, and it all exploded. The mother plant turned orange and crumbled apart with nothing else to hold it up. He could see two figures standing on the glass roof where the mother plant had broken through the building, he didn't recognise the girl, but the other was unmistakably Batman's protege, Robin.

As he finally got to the sight of the fight, he saw the sorcerer, Wotan holding the team down with lightning-like magic. Phantom was having none of that, he fired his hands up with his Ghost ray and shot the green ecto-energy at Wotan's head. This only briefly disorientated Wotan, but it was enough for the team to free themselves and fall from the skies as a duffle bag.

"Show yourself!" Wotan screamed into the skies obviously calling for Phantom but not knowing what or who hit him. The Villains and Heroes went silent. Phantom could see Kal zip back up the duffle bag hiding something that was gold; the villains were looking at their comrade as if he had grown another head. But the heroes took this opportunity and starting their fight against the Injustice League while Wotan started shooting out magical energy in every direction in hopes of hitting his assailant. Phantom dodged every single beam.

"You looking for me, old man?" Phantom's voice bellowed. He let down his invisibility right in front of Wotan's face, making the man gasp and float back just slightly. The others were too involved in their fights to take notice of the new player on the field.

"You are merely a child, how did you-"

"Rude, I'm a teen actually." A magical ray shot straight for Phantom. Without a second thought Phantom put up an ecto-shield, the beam split in two as soon as it came in contact with the shield.

The magical blasts were sent one after another, and eventually, Phantom's shield started to crack, just as the next blast came hurling towards him, he let down his shield and spun out of the way. Phantom flew behind Wotan and aimed a kick right toward his head, unfortunately, Wotan was fast and brought up his arms to block the kick. Phantom flew back to give himself distance as he sent out a barrage of ghost ray blasts, his opponent had put up his own shield to block and ecto-energy. There was only one thing Phantom could think of to take down the sorcerer, it was going to leave Phantom drained, but if it helped save the hero, he's put his neck on the line.

Phantom opened his mouth and let out the largest ghostly wail he had seen himself do. The air around him rippled, causing Wotan to cover his ears as he was pushed down to the ground. The fights on the ground had stopped in favour of watching the powerful display.

Cutting the wail short a dark golden blast shot at Wotan, final knocking the Sorcerer unconscious.

"Not tonight Wotan," Zatara called from the skies as he floated down with the rest of the justice league. Superboy taking advantage of Ultra-Humanite confusion hit him and ultimately knocked him down. The Joker was still trying to slice up Robin with his small looking pocketknife before Batman threw a Batarang at the knife, knocking it from the Clown Prince's hands.

Seeing that they were outnumbered and outmatched, the Injustice League were rounded up with Wotan passed out in the middle of them. Phantom feeling the drain from using his ghostly wail was resting against a tree and panting slightly.

"It's over," Batman spoke in a tone that held no question. Behind him were Black Canary and Green Arrow, both of them overseeing the villains so that they wouldn't try anything. The Injustice League shared a look before they put their hands up in surrender, all except the Joker.

"There will be another day." Count Vertigo confidently muttered.

"Another day? Another day!" Joker screamed, "There won't be another day! Not for any of us!" He spread his hands in the air and started flailing them manically as he laughed.

More of Poison Ivy overgrown vines emerged out of the swamp waters, spouting spores that exploded with Joker Venom.

"Joker Venom spores! Don't breathe!" Batman shouted as he ran and punched Joker in the face, effectively shutting him up and knocking him to the ground.

The gas cloud of Joker Venom was getting bigger, and everyone around was getting worried if they breathed it in, they would shortly be dead. That's when Phantom decided to intervene; he flew up to the giant gas could and created a massive ecto shield around it—essentially bubbling the deadly gas. Murmurs were going on beneath Phantom, probably heroes asking who he was, but Phantom put all of his concentration into keeping the shield up so that none of them would perish.

After the gas dissipated and the air was deemed breathable again, Phantom let down the shield and floated back down to the heroes. As soon as he reached the ground, his knees buckled and sent him crashing to the ground. Well, it would have if the Flash didn't move to catch him.

"Thanks," Phantom mumbled to the fast hero.

"No problem, kid, you really saved our buts back there. You going to be ok?" The Flash asked the kid that was using him as a support to keep standing.

"I'll be ok, just used too much energy."

"Wait, wait, wait just a minute!" Kid Flash started as the other young heroes had already formed their own circle to protect their teammates. It was more of an automatic move since becoming a team they had gotten closer, "who is he? and why is he here."

Batman sighed and came forward, "This is Phantom; he is the Hero of Amity Park. I sent him here to give you back up in case you needed it. Judging what's in that duffel bag on Aqualad's arm, you needed it."

"Look, I saw all the destruction happening worldwide on TV, three people died, I had to help," Danny explained. He was getting more tired by the second; his head was nodding before he finally rested it on the Flash's shoulder.

"Er, Bats?" The Flash nodded to the dozing kid on his shoulder. Batman nodded and took the lead.

"We'll debrief at Mount Justice, Phantom, you'll come along as well." Batman went to take Phantom off of the Flash's hands when he surprised Batman. The Flash lifted Phantom in his arms, an arm cradling his back the other supporting his legs, with his head still resting on the Flash's shoulder.

"Don't worry Bat's I've got him; I'll take him to the med bay while you all debrief." With that, the Flash was off just as Phantom closed his eyes and settled in to sleep. The Flash gasped as two rings appeared around Phantom's body and turned him into a seemingly normal looking kid with black hair, looking too skinny and pale.

"Great, Bat's is gonna wanna adopt this one an all."


	8. Chapter 7

The First thing Danny registered was the ache in his head that reminded him of construction workers drilling through concrete without taking a break from their work. Then when he opened his eyes, he saw white, and he started to panic.

The ceiling was pure white; the sheets laying on top of him were pure white. His breathing was picking up; everything was white, when did they get a hold of him? Then the logical side of his brain kicked in, telling him he couldn't be with there, he was last with the Justice League helping out the young sidekick team. The Flash. The Flash said he was taking him to a med bay?

"Whoa kid," He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder pushing him to lie back down. He hadn't even realised that he was trying to get up in his panic, it was probably his flight or fight instincts kicking in. He turned the person pushing him down, "you just woke up, don't want you pushing it."

"Flash?" His voice was croaky and dry. He must have been asleep for a while for his throat to dry up; it also lacked Phantom's echo-y-ness, he must be Danny right now. That caused another set of panic to wash over him, did the whole League Know who Phantom was now?

"That's right, bud, but you can call me Barry," The Flash took off his headgear revealing soft blonde locks of hair and pale blue eyes, "you don't have to worry, I'm the only one that's seen you like this."

"Why?" Danny asked genuinely curious why he hadn't told the other member of the League who this powerful kid was- is. Is, he's still alive. Mostly.

"We all deserve to have a secret identity; if we want to keep it, I'm not just gonna take that away from you. Now are you going to tell me your name or shall I keep calling you, kid?" Barry asked, placing the headgear to a side and lent on the med bay bed.

"Danny, my names Danny." He smiled. If it was the Flash keeping his secret, then he didn't mind too much. He had proven himself enough with not letting anyone else into the room.

"Right, Danny. If you're feeling up to it Bat's wants a mission report from us, he also wants to talk to you about something he wouldn't tell me about, dang secretive Bats." The last part was said under his breath, but Danny heard it none the less. It brought a smile to his face; Barry wasn't treating him any less from when they had met. Which was an accident, mind you. He had gotten lost and somehow ended up in Amity, he had found Phantom pretty easily to ask for directions, then he heard the Flash's stomach rubble and had to treat the speedster to a nasty burger. The rest was history.

Danny nodded and sat up this time with Barry's help. After getting the boy back on his feet without any chances of him falling over again, Barry put back on his red headgear and waited for Danny's decision to stay as Danny or change into Phantom.

"I'm going ghost." He whispered under his breath. Two glowing rings travelled up and down his body, turning Danny into his other half.

"Well, that's more useful than having to go home and change into a costume every time." That caused Phantom to chuckle. The Flash slung an arm around his shoulder and led them out of the med bay; Phantom allowed him to do this. "Yo Bats!"

The Flash called, and Batman instantly turned around halting the report he received from Black Canary and Green Arrow.

"Flash, Phantom, good timing, would you care to join us?" Batman gestured to the other League members and the Young Justice League members lounging in the living room whilst they each giving reports. All of them exhausted from the day to do anything more like going into a meeting room, for instance.

Both of them head to the living room area, Flash joining Wonder Woman and Green Lantern, definitely Hal Jordan, on the large sofa taking Green Arrows seat. It was the five-second rule, after all.

"Phantom, it’s best that I speak to you privately." Batman didn't wait for Phantom to respond before he walked. He was sure it was a walk, but you couldn't see his legs move, maybe he glided? Now Phantom was imagining The Batman wearing heelies... It would explain so much.

The other teen all sent curious looks to the white-haired boy, which, that they've only just noticed, was slightly floating above the ground. Phantom diligently followed Batman into the other room and as soon as he was inside the door shut behind him.

"You wanted to talk, Mr Batman, sir?" Phantom was totally not nervous.

"You can calm down Phantom, I'm not going to bite your head off," he relaxed just a bit at that, knowing that he hadn't done anything wrong and he wasn't going to be yelled at. "The other members of the League and I have been discussing the Team. We would like you to join."

Holy shoot. Phantom swore that his brain was short-circuited for a moment, and the Batman wanted him, Phantom, on the Young Justice Team. "Erm, y-you want me?"

"I don't see anyone else in the room with us, so yes, you."

"This isn't a joke?" Phantom asked.

"I do not joke," Batman patiently replied, "if you like you can come and go as you please, just make sure you are here for training and missions, we'll also assign you your own room in Mount Justice, so you can stay here whenever you like."

"I-I, I don't know." Phantom stuttered out. He would love to join, but his thoughts wandered to Felix, Jenny and the other kids. He was worried that they had been injured during the vine attack.

"We'll do a trial run, and if you like it, you can stay, if not, you are free to leave." Batman was putting out all the tricks up his sleeve. He could see the untrained potential in Phantom, with a good mentor and support from his teammates he could flourish as a hero. Phantom meekly nodded in response. It was a stark contrast to his personality earlier; he was so sure of himself, ready to throw himself into danger. Now he was unsure of where he stood and didn't know what to expect. "Excellent, let's introduce you to the team."

Again, Phantom nodded and followed Batman out of the room. The League member has left by now, all of them gave their reports earlier and then filing out to help clean up what had been destroyed. The only one left other than Batman was the Flash and Black Canary. The Flash was fussing over his nephew and his broken arm that was now in a cast and sling, while Black Canary was keeping an eye on the kids.

"Team." All of them turned to Batman as he spoke, even the Flash stopped fussing his nephew, "this is Phantom, he'll be joining the team." Then the room went vibrant with voices. Batman took the chance to slip out, calling after Robin who followed him out. The only reason any of them noticed they were gone was from the Zeta Tube voice announcing their departure.

"This is why we need dance fighting," Wally muttered as he shook his head.


	9. Chapter 8

Phantom could only gape at the young heroes. They had been arguing for the last ten minutes seemingly about him, to Black Canary, who struggled to quell them. The only one that seemed calm was the blonde that Phantom recalled being Aqualad or Kal as M'gann and Connor told him as his other-self. He was sat patiently on the sofa, watching them all argue over things they could not control.

"Enough!" Black Canary finally yelled, "you are arguing about a teammate that is right in front of you." Canary gestured to Phantom, and when everyone's eyes were on him, he gave them a small wave. They then went back to aimlessly yelling.

They all suddenly went quiet and stared at each other, like they were having a conversation with their eyes. Then the four other young heroes turned and stared at their leader on the sofa, Aqualad then nodded, the five young heroes set their focus on Phantom who was floating awkwardly in the kitchen. Black Canary and the Flash looked just as confused as Danny felt.

"So, Phantom," Artemis stated, "tell us about yourself?"

"Erm, well, that's sort of broad. Where do you want me to start?" Phantom replied. The team seemed oddly hostile towards him despite him saving their lives just a few hours earlier.

"How about we start with introductions?" Black Canary suggested.

"Fine, I'm Artemis, Green Arrows protege and niece."

"Kid Flash, but you can call me Wally, everyone else does, well most of the time."

"Superboy." He crossed his arms over his chest, indicating that he would not say any more on the subject.

"He also goes by Connor. Hi! I'm Miss Martian, Martian Manhunter's niece, but since we're on Earth, you can call me M'gann or Megan since that's an Earth name."

"Thank you for your help earlier, I did not want to retort to plan B, but the situation was becoming fraught," Aqualad spoke from the sofa giving Phantom a grateful look, "I am Aqualad, Aquaman's protege, my name is Kaldur'ahm, but it is tended to be shortened to Kaldur or more recently Kal."

"It's great to meet you all. I've been a fan of some of you since I was alive." That's right, throw them a red herring, don't let them know he's still partially alive.

"What do you mean some?" Artemis called in.

"What do you mean alive? Dude, are you dead?" Wally and Artemis spoke at the same time.

"Erm-" Phantom was cut off by Black Canary.

"Why don't we pick this back up tomorrow, it’s past midnight, and you all have school tomorrow, plus you all look exhausted, and even I need my beauty sleep." The heroes said nothing but nodded in agreement. "Great, Phantom, I'll show you to your room, the rest of you get some sleep."

Kid Flash and the Flash headed towards the zeta tubes, which announced their departure to Central City. Aqualad had appeared to have fallen asleep on the sofa, with his head falling over the back of the sofa, his arms crossed over his chest and his feet up on the coffee table. Superboy, M'gann and Canary all walked down the same corridor, Phantom followed behind them. Superboy and M'gann split off from them at the first few doors, heading into their own room for the night.

Canary stopped in front of an ordinary-looking door that looked just like the rest that they had passed if Phantom were to guess the other doors belonged to the rest of the team when they chose to stay at the mountain. Canary sighed and opened the door revealing a very boring looking room. The walls were a bland beige colour, the bed was on a simple steel frame, and the sheets were plain white. There was a door at the back of the room that presumably led to the bathroom, other than that there was a simple oak desk pushed up to the wall opposite the bed, the floor was carpeted in the same boring beige that painted the walls.

"So, this is now your room; you can decorate it however you want to, the computer to order anything for your room is in the hanger, that includes paint, carpet, bed sheet, furniture like beanbags, pillows, poster. Just don't go crazy."

"Thank you." His voice was slightly hoarse from using the wail earlier and the lack of use afterwards. He headed into the room and the door shut behind him, leaving him alone in 'his' room.

As soon as he heard footsteps that indicated that Canary had left, he turned invisible and intangible. He shot upwards. He floated above Mount Justice, taking in the view of Happy Harbour. It was a beautiful city, really when you look at it from a whole rather than pieces. All of the city looked like a jigsaw; it all fit together in the right places. The school area, the high street, the town centre, the residential area, the abandoned residential area. Apparently, there were too many problems in the area where his subway home was, and it was easier to rehome people than to fix all the problems, making it the district of the homeless and poor.

He took a deep breath before he made his way to the Subway Station. He drifted into the bathroom, taking a double-check around to make sure no one else was in there. He changed back into Danny with a flash of bright light. He gently shut the door to the bathroom as he exited, taking a look around he noticed that the station was oddly dark, Felix and Jenny always made sure there was a fire going so that the younger ones wouldn't be as scared. But the station was completely dark; there was no flicker of firelight anywhere to be seen.

"Jenny? Felix?" Danny called out into the dark. It was too quiet; the kids were normally running around, exploring, shouting to each other about their new finds. Now it was just silence. The odd thing was that all the tents were still there, Danny decided to check the tent that Felix and he shared, and low and behold all of his belongings were still there. He quickly grabbed his backpack as he heard two, almost silent footsteps coming down the stairs. Danny dove behind an old ticket stand hoping whoever it was didn't see him.

"This is where he was staying." The voice was too familiar to Danny. He took a peek over the ticket stand to confirm his suspicions. There at the bottom of the steps stood Batman and Robin, the greatest dynamic duo.

"CPS came as soon as the vines were gone, they didn't find him amongst the kids though," Robin pitched in, "why are so intent on finding him Bats?"

"A friend asked me to." Batman decided to look around and search for clues. At that point, Danny turned invisible just as Robin rounded the corner of the ticket stand.

"You mean the creepy guy with the ponytail?" Were they talking about Vlad? Danny thought, he knew Vlad was looking for him, but he didn't know he had somehow hired the world’s greatest detective to search for him, he also didn't know that Vlad had figured out he was in Happy Harbour. As they got closer to his hiding spot his breathing quickened in pace, he shoved his hands over his nose and mouth in attempts to hide it.

"Be nice, did you find anything out from your investigation?"

"Not much that would be helpful. Bats he's not here anymore, his stuff isn't here, he obviously left at some point."

Batman was about to open his mouth and reply. Still, Danny had enough, turning intangible he made his way out of the station, going through all the obstacles instead of loudly clattering his way to the exit and telling the dynamic duo exactly where he was. Once he was out of the station, Danny made sure no one watched him while he turned into Phantom. He flew back to his room in Mount Justice. His feet touched the ground, and he allowed himself to turn back into Danny.

"Shit, shit this isn't good," Danny buried a hand into his hair, as his panic increased the grip tightened, "ok, so only being me in this room and at school, I can do that, I can totally do that, they'll have forgotten about me in a week. I can do this. Ow." The grip on his hair got a bit too tight, and he pulled his hand away from his head now that he had calmed himself down.

He eyed up the bed. It did look cosy and warm, he hadn't slept on a real bed in about two months, not since his time at the shelter. He placed his bag down on the desk and then eyed the door heading to the bathroom. He hadn't had a proper shower since he for to the city, it was always a quick wash in the sink to make sure he was clean. He didn't notice it before but next to the bathroom door was a small dresser, he opened the top drawer and found an abundance of simple short sleeve tops all in different colours, he checked the draw below it. He found a pair of jeans and a few jogging bottoms again if different colours, finally he checked the last drawn, it was filled with socks and boxers. Were they planning on him being here at some point?

He decided before he would head to bed, he'd take a warm shower, put on some fresh new clothes that didn't smell of something unholy and crawl into bed, after all, he had school tomorrow.


	10. Chapter 9

It was too early for his phone to be ringing, Bruce thought as he stared at the offending object on his nightstand, especially his personal mobile. It was five am. What could anyone want at five am? He sighed as he picked up the phone, not bothering to look at the caller ID.

"Bruce Wayne speaking." He called down the mic. For a moment, the line was silent until he heard the voice on the other end.

"Ah, Bruce," he spoke as if he was surprised that Bruce had answered, "I'm terribly sorry about the early call, but it seems that I need your assistance."

"Vlad Masters, I wasn't expecting you to call anytime soon, not after what happened at the Christmas Charity Gala last year." Bruce rubbed his eyes as he stood from his bed and made his way over to his bedroom window. He had the perfect view of his garden hidden by the early morning mist, making the land seem eerily gothic in the way that all of Gotham was. He turned his focus back to his phone and the caller. In all honesty, Bruce wasn't a big fan of Masters, the way he spoke, and eyed people up gave him the impression that he thought he was superior, so everyone else in the vicinity.

"I understand you have connections to a world's greatest detective; you see, I have a godson that has gone missing and I would very much like he found and back to where he is safe, with me."

"And why should I help you?" The silence over the phone held such thick tension that it could be cut with a Batarang.

"You owe me." Bruce covered the microphone on his mobile before he sighed. He did indeed owe Masters a favour; he had hoped that he had forgotten about it.

"What's his name?"

"Daniel Fenton, I'll send you a picture of what he most recently looks like, I presume that will help."

"Yes, it will."

"Thank you for your help, Bruce. I assume that you will call me when you locate the boy." With that Masters hung up the phone call.

* * *

**Three Weeks Later**

Danny's first night at Mt Justice was amazing; he didn't realise how much he had missed having a bed, it was soft and warm, no springs were sticking out of it like his old mattress, so there wasn't anything piercing into him in the middle of the night. Over the last month, he had become used to waking up without the feeling in his hands, and his nose was just that bit cold that even burying his head into a blanket wouldn't help, cause that was cold to the touch as well. Danny was used to the cold.

But now he was warm; he had woken up in the warm blankets and duvet. He wasn't cold. He snuggled in deeper into his pillow and pulled the duvet up higher, so only the floof of his black hair was visible, he sighed in content.

He knew he had school, thankfully there was no homework due in that day, but he was contemplating taking the day off, or would that be too suspicious. He had just started there a few weeks ago. No, skipping would leave a bad impression. So, he reluctantly stretched his arms over his head until he heard the bones crack and his muscles pull, he did the same with his legs but stretched them outwards, he felt his ankles crack and his legs beginning to shake. Content that he was now somewhat awake he threw the duvet off of his body.

He almost welcomed the chill that greeted him, waking him up fully. He didn't realise it, but he felt safe, he had slept peacefully in a safe environment, that was monitored by superheroes no less.

After he took a quick shower, he struggled to decide what clothes he was going to wear. He finally had new clothes; he felt spoiled for choice after wearing the same outfit almost every day for the last month. He dug through the dresser and found a pair of black denim jeans that he didn't spot the day before, he rummaged through and found a plain black vest top and a dark green oversized jumper. He picked out a pair of socks and started his search for his shoes; he checked under his bed and found something he missed the day before. Under his bed were three different pairs of shoes, two different converse colours, and a pair of dress shoes. He picked the dark green converse.

He grabbed his backpack and quickly transformed into Phantom. He wasn't going to let his new team see his civilian self yet, and he wasn't sure if any of them were even in the mountain, well except Connor and Megan. He phased through the door and headed into the kitchen. He didn't realise he was entering into chaos.

The fire alarm was going off. Megan wafting the smoke around whilst taking a pan off the stove and shoving it into the sink, Danny caught sight of something black in the pan. Connor had grabbed the fire extinguisher next to the fridge and covered the sink in white foam; he was making sure the fire was out and was going to stay out.

"I thought I was getting better!" Megan yelled out in frustration.

"You were," Connor replied to her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. She floated back down to the ground and started on cleaning up the blackened mess she had made. It was them that Phantom let his presence be known.

"What were you trying to cook?" He saw Megan jump, startled by his sudden appearance. He also saw Connor jump but not as harshly as the Martian.

"Oh, I was attempting an omelette, the one using eggs, it didn't really work though." He didn't know if there was a different way to make omelettes without eggs, but he didn't comment on it.

"I can help if you like?" He recalled every time he took up the cooking after his mother accidentally brought their dinner to life, as well as the containers in the fridge that was filled with leftovers that would occasionally move. He had gotten good at cooking and even learnt to enjoy it, he didn't have to get takeout all the time any more or smooch off his friends.

"You can cook?" Connor asked as if he didn't believe the floating teen.

"Well, yeah, how do pancakes sound?" Megan practically zoomed over to him and wrapped him in a crushing hug. "You know, I could teach you if you like?" If possible, the hug got even tighter, he meekly brought his hands up and patted the Martian on her back. She quickly let go.

"Thank you so much. It'll be nice be able to make something other than cookies." He smiled nervously at her and got to work on their breakfast. The whole time he cooked, Megan was floating over his shoulder, taking notes in a notepad she had gotten from somewhere, Phantom had no idea where. Soon enough, the pancakes were done and eaten.

Connor and Megan both looked at the clock and started rushing around, getting their backpacks together. "We have school," Connor stated.

"Yeah, we'll be gone most of the day, but if you're doing anything make sure you're back by four, we have trained with Black Canary, and the team will most likely want to grill you." She changed her skin tone from green to something more human before she waved to him; both of them quickly left the mountain. Phantom took that as a sign that he should make his way to High School; after all, he couldn't miss it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this took so long. My nephew has just been born, and I've started working, sort of, for the first time in three years, It's been blooming hectic. I hope you all are well and staying safe!!


	11. Chapter 10

When Danny arrived at school that day, he didn't expect much, and he expected to be bored in English and all of its metaphors. The day took a massive turn after lunch during history; they learned about the revolutionary war when America was liberated from Britain with France's help. Of course, the lesson ended with most of the class performing Hamilton the Broadway Musical. Danny had taken up the part of Lafayette, which had surprised most of the class. Since he had started two weeks prior, he had mainly kept to himself, the exclusion being when he joined Megan and Connor for lunch. So, when he had started singing in French, the whole class was surprised. It was after class during study hall when the biggest surprise happened.

"Yo," A young man sat down in front of Danny, he had dark brown hair and brown skin and looked to be a few years older, a senior, "you're Danny, right?" He nodded his head as he put down the book he was reading, "I'm Peter, co-leader of the theatre club, I'll be curt, I heard what happened in your history class, and we want you to join the club."

Danny stared at the young man in front of him for a solid minute, processing what he had just said. He heard him right, right? Danny couldn't sing or act to save his life, why on earth would the theatre club want him?

"Why?" That was Danny's eloquent response.

"Oh, why he asks, Lafayette has some of the hardest lines as well as some of them being in French, and I'm told you performed perfectly," Peter stated as a matter of fact.

"Thank you, but I'm not interested in joining a club." Peter sighs in disappointment but does nothing to push the raven-haired teen to join.

"That's alright if you like you can drop by anytime to watch us practise, and I could introduce you to the rest of the club, there's always a spot open for you if you want it," The brunette smiled at Danny as he stood up, "we're in room two-o-four." He smiled again as he left Danny alone to his studies.

The day went quickly after that, and soon he was walking away from Happy Harbour High School, the children's books had been returned to the library, after all, he no longer had any use for them. Instead, he got out a few more books that though he would enjoy reading, Holes by Louis Sachar and The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowki were two. Though reading them and finding the time to read them were two different things.

Without realising, he had let his feet guide him to the nearest alleyway to transform into his counterpart. Looking down the alleyway all he noticed was a stray cat sat licking its bits on top of a dumpster, upon seeing his audience, he let out an exasperated meow and disappeared further into the alley. Danny threw a look over his shoulder, making sure he wasn't followed or that anyone was watching him. Satisfied that he was alone, he hid behind the dumpster.

"I'm going ghost." He whispered as a blue ring surrounded his hips and split into two that travelled both up and down his body. His regular clothes had changed into black and silver jumpsuit that now that Danny was looking at it, he wondered if he could stylise it to himself somehow. For now, though, he flew up into the air and made his way back to Mt. Justice.

As soon as he phased through the mountain's rock, he noticed the lack of quietness in the common area. Floating down, he noticed everyone was already there, Phantom knew he had taken his time in the library, but did he take that long that everyone was already there before him? He floated down to the common area just in time to hear the tail end of a conversation in which they were all arguing their points.

"Dude, the Flash would totally beat Superman in a race!" Wally interjected.

"I think you're forgetting the World’s Mightiest Mortal; I mean, Cap was literally given his power's from the Greek Gods themselves, including Mercury the God of speed." Robin cut him off.

"Oh, Phantom! You made it!" Megan halted their conversation in favour of welcoming their new teammate.

"Alright, Phantom, you're the final say, who from the League do you think would win in a race?" Wally was not giving this up.

Phantom took a few moments to think about it before pitching in. "Oh, clearly the Flash would win."

"Thank you!" Wally cheered. Robin and Artemis groaned in annoyance.

"Don't encourage him, he'll just get worse," Artemis complained.

"Rude," Wally murmured as he slumped down into the sofa.

Phantom, being the social butterfly he is, stood off to the side, the conversation had died off, and they were left in uncomfortable silence. He could feel the curiosity radiating off of all of them; they all had questions for Phantom but were either too polite or awkward to ask him.

"Alright, I can see you want to ask questions, go-ahead, we might as well get this out of the way." Phantom sighed. He sat cross-legged floating in the air, his elbow resting on his knee and his head resting on the palm of his hand.

"Ok, thank god you're chill with us asking questions, so like last night you said you were dead, what did you mean by that?" Wally quickly queried.

"Oh boy, going right out there with the big questions, huh?" Phantom brought up his other hand to rub his temple, "So, like, once upon a time I was alive, like you guys, I had a heartbeat, family, friends and even a shitty high school life. But now, I'm a ghost, I quite literally died."

"So, how did you die?" Artemis inquired. The others had fallen into a silence, anxious to hear Phantoms answers and learn more about their new teammate.

"I, erm, well-"

"You don't have to answer, Phantom. We are just glad you are willing to answer our questions." Aqualad assured the white-haired teen.

"I don't mind; I'd probably have to tell you guys at some point anyway. So, my parents were sort of scientists, and there were developing this new technology, a portal of some kind," Phantom started. He wanted to keep as close to the truth as much as possible; it was less likely to get caught in a lie that way.

"Wow, so, your parents were some kind of genius inventors? Was the portal for some kind of interdimensional travel, or more of a way of teleportation?" Robin queried. He heard Wally whisper 'nerd' under his breath, followed by a cough, Robin playfully whacked his good arm and turned his attention back to the floating teen.

"Yeah, I think it was more interdimensional, I could never understand the maths behind it. But well, they tested it out a few times, and it didn't work, so my friends convinced me to go in and check it out," There was a quiet gasp as he saw Megan's green hands fly over her mouth. She must have already guessed what had happened. "I put on this ridiculous jumpsuit, that at first had my dad's face on it, thank god my friend tore that off, and I stepped- well more like tripped into the portal, I went to steady myself, but it turns out that the on switch was put on the inside of it, where I had just leant against."

"That must have been horrific!" Artemis wheezed. She couldn't imagine the pain that would have put him through.

"Well, yeah, I was electrocuted and had my DNA ripped apart. Not fun, highly de-recommend, zero out of ten."

"Your friends must have felt so guilty, and your parents, oh my, I can only imagine them finding your body in their own invention." Megan almost sobbed. It looked like she was holding herself back while she was cuddled in Connor's arms.

"Actually, there wasn't a body to find, it kinda just, disintegrated me." Phantom nervously rubbed the back of his neck. The look of horror on all their face's spoke more than words.

"Holy shit dude, talk about origin stories."


	12. Chapter 11

Soon after the reveal of Phantom's tragic back story, the arrival of Black Canary and Captain Marvel was announced over the zeta tube klaxon system. Both heroes' appearance was expected, with Black Canary training them and Captain Marvel being their den mother, although Phantom was a tad skittish. Both of the heroes were intimidating in their own right, Phantom, at that moment of their arrival just wanted to turn invisible and stay invisible.

Captain Marvel came zooming over to them, excited to be there with the team. Most of the team rolled their eyes, thinking the Cap to be more of a man child than what they usually put up with. The other hero partners didn't have an overly optimistic view on Marvel, but Phantom somewhat admired the man. He had a right set of morals that he wouldn't compromise for anything, he always did what he thought was right, he was also powerful as heck but never bragged about it, never showed off. Honestly, he was what Phantom aimed to be.

"Wally, you're exempt from training today since you have a broken arm," Black Canary called as she headed into the training room with everyone following after her. There was a lounge chair already set up at the edge of the room which Wally sped to, "today we'll be introducing Phantom into the training regimen and also going over what I showed you last time."

Phantom stood awkwardly to the side of the training ring. He had no idea what was expected of him, or what he should do; he followed the others lead.

"Aqualad, you're up against Phantom first, remember the match is until the first one is down and no holding back." Aqualad stepped into the ring already in a defensive position.

"Erm, I'm not too sure about this." Phantom hesitated he looked at the ring's edge then to an awaiting Aqualad.

"And why is that?" Black Canary sighed.

"You scared of fighting Kal?" Wally inquired from his little perch.

"No, nothing like that, I just don't want to hurt anyone badly." Phantom sighed as he stepped into the ring.

"Oo, that is totally fighting talk, you gonna take that Kal?" Artemis called to her teammate.

"I believe I will not prepare yourself," Kal responded.

"I guess we're really doing this." He floated down so he was standing in the ring and a digital scoreboard appeared with both Aqualad's and Phantom's name appearing above a large zero. He noticed that most of the other team had taken to sitting on the ground and was all too excited to watch them spar, meanwhile Wally was sending Captain Marvel to get him all sorts of different snacks on the pretence that he was resting his injury.

Phantom made no move to change into a defensive position or an offensive stance, he stood there and waited for Aqualad to make the first move. After Aqualad realised that Phantom would not attack first, he charged at his opponent, keeping his body low. Just as Aqualad was about to attack Phantom shifted his body to the side, sending Aqualad off balance and stumbling forward. Phantom moved away closer to the middle of the ring, waiting for Aqualad to attack again. Aqualad attacked again, throwing his fist towards Phantom's chest, again at the last second Phantom turns intangible, and his fist goes right through him.

"What-" Taking advantage of Aqualad moment of confusion Phantom loops his leg around his calve and pulled his body to the side. This small move sent Aqualad tumbling to the ground, the digital scoreboard buzzed loudly, and a one replaced the zero under Phantom's name.

"Dude, what was that?" Robin yelled from the ground.

"What do you mean?" Phantom cocked his head to the side, unaware of what he meant. He held out his hand to Aqualad to help the other teen up, which he gladly took.

"Good match Phantom," Aqualad stated once he was back on his feet and gently placed a hand on his shoulder, "but I thought I manage to get a hit, how did it not land."

"Oh, that, that's just intangibility."

"In-what-ability?" Artemis questioned after she had gotten up from the ground.

"Intangibility, it means I can go through things and things can go through me what I want it to," Phantom explained.

"So, you have more than one ability?" Robin asked, "What are they?"

"Well, I can turn invisible," he demonstrated this by disappearing and reappearing next to Robin who jumped slightly at his sudden appearance, "you've just seen intangibility, I can fly, which you've seen often, it's actually my favourite power. I can also manipulate my ecto-energy, I can shoot it from my hands, I can also direct the energy into my hands to make it a harder punch, and I can also create a shield with it."

"That's quite a lot, Phantom." Black Canary started.

"That's not even all of them. New powers are kind of developing as I get older." Phantom nervously rubbed the back of his neck, not liking the look of utter disbelief and shock on each of their faces.

"So, like, we've established you're dead an all, but like, as you get older do you age as well? Like physically?" Artemis asked as Aqualad stepped out of the ring and towards the others.

"I don't actually know. I haven't been dead long enough to find out," Phantom admitted.

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on. How long have you actually been dead?" Robin asked. He had done the calculations in his head, and he already didn't like the implications that the ghost teen was throwing out.

"Just over a year now, I think." The whole room turned cold and silent. Before he knew it a blur of red and green took up phantom's arms, he raised his hands and awkwardly patted M'gann on the back. "You know it's ok right? I came to term with it ages ago." He quickly consoled the almost sobbing girl.

"It's still not fair, though." M'gann released her grip on him and wiped a hand over her damp cheeks.

"Okie, you don't have to tell us, but did you have a name before you died?" Wally question. He was sat up from his seat on the lounge chair, fully focused on the conversation.

"I did, I just don't remember it." Of course, that was a lie. He knew his name, but if he told them especially Robin since he and Batman were technically looking for him, he was scared of being found out. He was not going to go to that fruitloop if it was the last thing he did.

"What if we gave you a name? Something more casual than just Phantom all the time?" M'gann asked gingerly. She had done the same thing for Connor, and that had worked out great.

"I'd like that." Phantom smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you can guess what episode this is leading up to I will give you a virtual cookie! 🍪


	13. Chapter 12

Training had started very well. Black Canary had deducted from Phantom's fighting style and powers, with the proper training of the league the ghostly hero could easily go toe to toe with Superman and possibly win. Then she had asked him a question he wasn't entirely sure how to answer.

"Have you ever had a mentor?" Was the question in question. He had Clockwork, Frostbite and undesirably Plasmus, but did any of them count as mentors. They hadn't taught him to use his powers, and he had figured that out on his own; well not entirely on his own, but they weren't around anymore.

"What do you mean?" Phantom had cocked his head to the side, making his hair fall away from his face and letting Black Canary see his toxic green eyes more clearly.

"Has anyone with similar abilities to you ever taught you how to use your powers?" The two heroes were stood next to each other, well Black Canary stood, Phantom floated. She was observing the other young heroes spar with each other.

"There is someone else that is exactly like me," this picked the heroine's interest. She turned away from the team to cast her full attention on the young ghost teen. "He's a lot older, has more control over their power, and he even has powers I have yet to develop properly."

"So, he was your mentor?"

"Oh, fuck no-"

"Language."

"Sorry, but the dudes a real fruit loop, as bad as they come and had a weird obsession with trying to make me his son."

"He is a villain?"

"My arch-nemesis."

"That's a strong word for him."

"There's no other word for him, he's sent hunters after me, tried to kidnap me multiple times, I think he's done the classic evil thing and wants to rule the world and destroy me." through all the explain not once did Phantom take his eyes off the team. They were learning to use their weakness to their advantage.

Even with different fights' sounds, a silence was cast over the two of them once again. Black Canary had learnt more about their new team member than she thought she would; he was opening up to them.

Everything was going great until a glowing ring appeared under where Phantom floated. The bright light stopped the spars, all of the curious as to what was happening. The ring seemed to encompass Phantom completely. Phantom looked down, the glow as a pulsating yellow and more shapes were taking form inside it. He could make out the star shape of a pentagram and an unfamiliar language to him appearing within the spaces.

"Phantom, what is happening?" Aqualad asked as he approached the situation, worried for his new teammate.

"Well, it's never actually happened before, but I think I'm being summoned."

"That can actually happen?" Robin asked as he inspected the glowing circle.

"It appears so." Aqualad attempted to reach for Phantom, which led to him being mildly shocked as soon as he got close to the circle's circumference.

Phantom closed his eyes as his form began to flicker in front of the team. Then he phased out, along with the glowing circle, like he was never there. When Phantom opened his eyes, he was greeted with a very poorly lighted warehouse.

"Oh, for fuck sake!" Phantom sighed. He remembered that annoying British accent all too well.

"Nice to see you to John, I assume Chas is here too," in front of him stood the blonde-haired brit alongside you young brunette woman, "you dragged someone else into your occult business?"

"Chas! We got the spell wrong; we summoned that annoying teenager!" Chas, who was stood by the door keeping guard comes into the room looking befuddled.

"I'm Zed. John is helping me handle my powers." Phantom decided there and then that he liked this woman a lot more than he liked Chas and John.

"Powers?" Chas and John were arguing near the heavy metal doors, most likely about him.

"Yeah, I'm a seer apparently, I have visions," Zed explained carefully.

"Right, Chas is not leaving this alone or letting me send you back 'til I talk to you," Phantom only raised an eyebrow at the brit as an answer, "Look, we were trying to summon the king of the ghosts-"

"And congratulations, you have." Phantom started to float like he was relaxing on a sunbed, his feet crossed over each other, and his arms resting behind his head.

"No, no, no- The text here says that the king is-"

"An imposing knight that goes by the name Pariah Dark, who possesses the ring of rage and the crown of fire and can summon an army of skeletal ghosts." Phantom recited bored.

"That's right, so why are we standing in front of a lanky teenage ghost than the scary-looking knight?"

"I defeated Pariah Dark; we removed his crown taking away his powers and sealed him back up in his sarcophagus, and somehow that technically made me the new king though I don't get coronated until I turn twenty-one."

John Constantine looked utterly baffled; he had an unlit cigarette hanging from his open mouth with the lighter lit in his hand. Zed was leaning against a table that looked just as rundown as the warehouse that surrounded them. And Chas was standing next to John with his arms crossed.

"We could still ask him-"

"Chas that's out of the question-" Chas and John continued to argue. Chas said that there was no harm in asking, while John wondered what a lanky, nosy teenager would know. Phantom's attention turned to the dark curly-haired Zed, and she was staring at him with hazy eyes.

"So, you're a seer?" Zed shook the haze from her eyes and focused on the floating teen.

"Yes? I think so. I have these visions that sort of show me things." She tilted her head slightly as she stared at Phantom.

"You had a vision then, weren't you?" Her eyes widen slightly.

"H-How did you know?"

"You were staring absently at me like you were seeing me but not, if that makes sense?"

"I saw you, but it wasn't you. You were older, had flaming hair-"

"Shit! Are you kidding? Please tell me you're kidding?" His outburst caught the attention of John and Chas.

"No, no, why would I be kidding about something I saw?" Phantom looked to be on the verge of panicking.

"I haven't changed anything!"

"What are you freaking out about now?" John chimed in. The three of them were staring at the hysterical Phantom, his breathing was frantic, and he was clutching his chest.

"I don't want to become evil!" 


	14. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of the Constantine shenanigans

"Woah, Woah, calm down Casper," John was never particularly good around children, especially around panicking children that just so happened to be somewhat dead as well.

"Calm Down! How the fuck can I calm Down? Your girlfriend just told me that I'm still gonna turn evil!" Phantom's breathing came out as rapid gasps of air like he couldn't get enough to fill his lungs. He was no longer floating and had slowly set himself on the ground where he was gently rocking himself back and forth.

"Oi, she's not my girlfriend." John started his retort.

"That's seriously what you're focusing on! That I called Miss Zed, your girlfriend." Phantom rocking a hole into the ground had, thankfully, stopped and he was staring at John with a mix of disbelief and shock. Phantom clutched a tuff of his white hair as he laughed maniacally.

"I think that calmed him down," John murmured.

"You said that on purpose, why am I not surprised." Zed had her arms crossed as she addressed John. She had no idea what to do or how she could help the panicking teen, but it seemed that John was doing just fine.

Phantom's breath came out in steady puffs, none of the adults in the room worried that he was going to hyperventilate now that he seemed to be calm.

"So, what was that freak out about?" John asked as he finally lit his cigarette and leant against the rotting table next to Zed.

"That's gonna take a lot of explaining."

"We have time." Chas broke out of his silence.

"We do no-"

"Shut it, John," Zed butted in before John could finish. "Go ahead. It may be better than keeping it all to yourself."

"Ok, so you know how last time we met you said that you could sense that I wasn't fully a ghost?" Phantom had taken up sitting on the ground with his legs crossed under him. He still couldn't move outside the summoning circle.

"Yeah, I remember that you gonna tell us you half fairy or something? Cause, no offence, but you kinda have that glow about you." John took a drag from his cigarette and tapped off the burnt end before putting it back up to his lips.

"Funny, but no, I'm half-human-"

"You're pulling our legs. There's no way in hell that a half-ghost, half-human hybrid can exist." Phantom's face had turned entirely neutral, void of any emotion as he stared down John. When John finally looked up and made eye contact with the ghost teen, he found that he couldn't look away, then suddenly there was a bright ring surrounding the kid, it was so bright that he, Chas and Zed had to look away and cover their eyes. When they looked back, they found a kid that looked precisely like Phantom with just reversed colours and no jumpsuit. "So, not pulling our legs then. I need a whiskey for this headache that's about to appear."

"How-" Chas was cut off.

"My parents were ghost tech inventors, like, ridiculously smart, and one day they attempted to build a portal to the ghost zone, but it didn't work. So, my two of my friends and I took a look, I put on a jumpsuit and went inside the portal." Danny took a deep breath, "it turned out the on switch was inside the portal and I accidentally turned it on." Danny could feel the phantom feelings of electricity running up and down his body and shivered at the sensation. He was, after all, electrocuted to death and brought back to life by the same electricity.

"So, your mom didn't fuck a ghost then?" That had genuinely made Danny laugh. The thought of his ghost hating mother getting even somewhat friendly, let alone intimate with a ghost was an image he would never expect.

"Definitely not." Danny stood up and walked out of the summoning circle, which caused John to drop his cigarette. "But the vision you saw, Clockwork told me about that possible future, my human half and my ghost half gets ripped apart, as well as Vlad's and the ghost half combined creating an evil me in the future that basically terrorises the world."

"That's why you freaked out, cause if I saw that there's still a chance it could happen." Danny meekly nodded in reply to Zed.

"As great as this backstory is, we still need help with the situation in-"

"Alright, I get it, Chas. Look, Casper-"

"My names Danny by the way.”

"Casper, we have a situation with ghosts terrorising this small town, we don't know where they came from or why they suddenly turned up, but fancy lending a hand since you're apparently the King an all?"

"Sure, so what town are we in?" Danny dusted off his legs from where he was sat down.

"Madison, New York." Sighing at his cigarette on the ground, he took out a silver flask that was tucked into the inside pocket of his mac coat.

"Have you tried salt and burn?"

"Salt and what now?"

"Salt and burn, you find the graves of the ghost, pour salt over the corpse and burn it till there's nothing left."

"That sounds barbaric!" Zed exclaimed, horrified at the idea of digging up someone's grave.

"Well yeah, that's why only some hunter uses it. Otherwise, I tend to capture them and send them back to the Ghost Zone."

"I'm sorry, Ghost Zone? What the blooming hell's a Ghost Zone?" John had a lot of questions today, doesn't he?

"It's the plane of existence where ghosts reside. Is the questioning over so I can get this over and done with?" Danny had taken up to shuffling slightly and trying to see anything out of the broken windows. Surprisingly it was already turning dark outside; though he shouldn't be too surprised, it was autumn after all. The three of them nodded, although John looked more than displeased with the whole situation.

"Beware! -"

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me! You called the king of the ghosts to deal with Boxy?!" Danny was massaging his temples; he could feel a banger of a headache coming along.

Box Ghost floated through the floor of the warehouse. "I am the Box Ghost! I have power over all containers cardboard and square."

"He was throwing boxes around in homes and causing trouble; how were we supposed to know that he wasn't a real threat. Plus, there was that ghost that's been frying all the tech around." Chas exclaimed.

Danny sighed as he pulled the backpack from his back. He still had it from school earlier and opened the bag to begin searching around it. "Boxy's not a problem, but Technus might be. He has the ability to control machinery and computers." Danny pulled out the Fenton Thermos and swiftly sucked Box Ghost up into it.

"You make it look way too easy." John groaned.

"Perks of being a ghost hunter's son, so, I've got a plan."

"Lay it on us, Casper."

"We set up something techy here, I'll fly around and get Technus' attention and lead him here, he'll try to escape using the tech, but you put that weird circle trap so that he can't go anywhere, and I'll take care of him with the thermos." Danny laid out the plan, simply making sure all of them could understand it.

"Got it, I presume the tech has to connect to the internet or have some wiring so that he can think he can escape." Zed began.

Danny nodded as he changed into his alter-ego. Leaving the three of them to kick into action while he shot out of the roof, intent on scoping out the town of Madison.


	15. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last part of Constantine Shenanigans.

The last thing Danny thought he would have to deal with on a Thursday afternoon in his new life was Technus. Truthfully, he had hoped that the last time he delt with Technus was, in fact, the last time, he knew it was too much to ask. Flying over the small town, he kept an eye out for any chaos or havoc being conducted. It was quiet, too quiet.

Until the powerline next to him sparked and exploded, creating a blackout in the town of Maddison. Manic laughter filled the air as Technus came out of his hiding place, the phone booth at the end of the street.

"Well done, you killed the power for the whole town." That was a voice that Danny didn't expect to hear. What was Technus, Boxy and Skulker all doing in the same town?

"Oh, damn it! I got too excited. I wanted to scare the kid." Technus cried out in annoyance.

"We’re not here to scare the kid." Skulker sighed. He was starting to regret bringing the tech ghost with him.

"Oh, just a little, a little fright is good for a growing boy... Does he still grow? Like you know he's like half dead an all."

"How am I meant to know, Nicolai?"

"Erm, so if you're not here to cause trouble, why are you here?" Danny decided to interject in their conversation. Both of the ghosts turned to the teen almost surprised that he was there.

"When did you get here?" Technus asked.

"Since you blew up the power. So, if you're done causing trouble can you go back to the ghost zone and have this done with?" Danny was ever so hopeful. He didn't want to fight both of them tonight, he was tired and stressed and still extremely wary of the new group of heroes he was now a part of.

"We need to talk-" Skulker started.

"Are you still working for Vlad?"

"No, I am not, Ember and I got into an argument about that, and I didn't want to risk her breaking up with me," Skulker replied sheepishly.

"You and Ember are dating? When did that happen?"

"Don't ask, it's new. Anyway, we wanted to warn you, but we didn't know how to find you, since you disappeared." It was odd having a normal conversation with Skulker without him claiming to be the best hunter and wanting his pelt.

"Ok? Can we continue this... Chat? In the warehouse?" Danny was unnerved. Was this a new ambush tactic? A way to get him to lower his defences then attack? Thankfully they agreed to the warehouse invitation, and they set on their way.

John and Chas were still setting up the makeshift laptop when that power went out. It stopped them in their track and felt like the plan was about to go up in flames.

"What now?" Chas asked as he put down the pliers on the ground. It was mainly Chas working on the laptop, and John was a borderline technophobe, it wasn't that he hated technology; it was just magic was easier for him to use.

"How the bloody hell am I supposed to know? Casper made this plan sound foolproof, didn't account for a bloody blackout." John flopped down on to the ground and leant up against the wall. He took the pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and opened it up intending to smoke away his stress, only to find it empty. He sighed in defeat as he crushed the packet in his hand and threw it to the side.

"Really? Littering?"

"Oh, come off it Zed-" He was going to say more, but Phantom came through the wall closely followed by two slightly intimidating ghosts.

"Erm, this is Skulker and Technus, they said that they need to talk to me." Phantom started. He looked alarmed, and it made John sit up straighter before deciding to stand up properly. It would be better if he were ready for any kind of attack from the two ghosts, he didn't want Casper to get ambushed when he could do something about it.

John was definitely not getting fond of the kid.

"Where's Box Ghost?" The largest one asked; John guessed he was Skulker. There was a pause, a silence in the room before he spoke again. "He's in the thermos again, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Phantom replied. "So, what is it you wanted to say."

"We'll cut straight to it, Plasmus knows exactly where you are, knows what school you go to and has hired more than a few people to bring you back. He's becoming unhinged." Skulker took the lead whilst Technus started inspecting the makeshift laptop that had been abandoned.

"Oh great, another reason to constantly look behind me." Danny sighed, "anything else."

"Truthfully, we just wanted to make sure you were still alive. Technus drop the laptop." The manic laughter of Technus drowned everything out.

Danny sighed. He figured something like this would happen. He quickly uncapped the thermos and sucked Technus inside before he could do anything. Skulker sighed.

"I knew I shouldn't have brought him along."

"I figured he would do something like that, but why haven't you tried anything yet?" Phantom questioned. Skulker turned and faced Phantom; his face was suddenly serious.

"I don't want to face Embers wrath." The answer stunned all of them, and abruptly the warehouse was filled with Phantom's laughter, then Skulker's laughter, while the rest just stood there confused.

"You better get going, Skulker, unless you want to be sucked up as well."

"Take care ghost child and keep and watch your back." With that, Skulker flew off.

"John," Phantom caught the occultist's attention before he threw the Fenton Thermos to him, which he fumbled with before gripping it tightly, "can you send me back from where you summoned me from?"

"I think we can do that, mate." John nodded.

"Thanks, I have one more thing to ask you, I need you to go to Amity Park, to my old place, it has a giant neon sign on top, so you can't miss it. In the basement, there's a portal and a slot for the thermos to go in to release to the Ghost Zone." John was about to protest and call the ghost teen a lazy wazok when Chas elbowed him in the ribs, and Zed took the lead.

"We'll find it, don't worry."

"Thank you, oh, and you can keep the thermos, I have another. Should make catching and dealing with ghosts a bit easier."

"Thanks, Casper, come 'ere, I want to give you something as well." Phantom floated down until he was in front of John, who placed a mirror into his hand with that language that Phantom didn't understand inscribed around the edge. Phantom looked up at him with his brows furrowed. "It's sort of like a magical cell phone if you need anything at all don't hesitate." John was definitely not getting attached.

"Thanks, John." And with that Phantom started to fade away from the warehouse. He closed his eyes and opened them back up inside of Mt Justice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, chapter updates may be a bit slower now, I've finally got a steady job and a job that I'm going to have for a while. I'll try and update on my days off.


	16. Chapter 15

Mount Justice was utterly silent. The noises of the training room that was there before he left were no longer there; the dull thuds of fists being blocked or the clatter when someone hits the ground. The heavy breathing and the rustle of fabric as it shifted with its wearer, it was all gone. All that remained in the hollow mountain was a painful silence.

As Phantom tentatively opened his eyes, he had hoped that his ears were wrong, that there were people around him and the silence was an after effect of John's magic. He soon realised he was wrong. For the first time in over a month, Phantom was alone. He had tried his hardest always to be around or with someone else, so long as he was occupied and wouldn't let his mind wander. 

'Where is everyone?' Phantom asked himself as he floated around the base. 'Were they called out on a mission? Without me? Rude.' He searched for something that could occupy himself, something menial. It's not like he could join the team, wherever they might be, he had no idea how to access the computer, and there was anyone around to tell him where to go. He sighed as he came into the kitchen/living room, he didn't want to watch T.V, Vlad was still on every channel pleading with the audience to help find his missing godson, Phantom did not want to see the face of a slapped ass.

His room! Phantom had yet to decorate his room in any way. Where had Black Canary said the computer to order stuff was? Well, it certainly was not in the living room/kitchen. He then checked the training room, that weird room with supercomputers inside, the mission room and the med bay. He was unsuccessful in all cases, then realised there was one room he had yet to check. The hanger. That's where Black Canary said it would be two days ago. 

When he got to the computer e found the screens monitor to be lifelessly black, it had yet to be woken up from its long nap. He floated down until his feet touched the ground in front to the computer and reached his hand up to the mouse to shake it awake. The computer swiftly came to life.

"Welcome, please tell me your name?" The voice seemed to come from everywhere yet nowhere at the same time. 

He looked around him as to search for the source. "What?"

"Please tell me your name or I'll have to deny you access." The voice called out again. He stared at the computer.

"I am Phantom." He spoke tentatively. The computer made a small chime sound, and the screen finally came on.

"Welcome Phantom, what can I do for you today?" The voice, the computer, the voice was coming from the computer. This was surely Batman's handiwork.

"I'd like to decorate my room."

"Excellent, shall we start with the paint? What colour do you enjoy, or would you prefer wallpaper?"

"I like the colours blue and red; I was thinking one wall being blue, one being red and the other two being like a light grey." 

Multiple shades a blue appeared on the screen. "Please choose a shade for each colour." For the blue, he picked the shade called 'Admiral'. The screen then changed showing different shades of red, he chose the one called 'Rossa Corsa', and it finally turned to the grey shades, he chose the one called 'Slip of Silver'. There was a clanking noise coming from a box next to the computer that he had only just noticed, there was a door and small handle to get inside the top from the box. He slowly opened the box, half expecting box ghost to jump out. Instead, he found three pots of paint, one larger than the other two. "Inside the pots are the perfect amount to paint each wall. Now, what theme would you like your room to be? I shall order everything else you may need respectively."

"I was thinking of a space theme? Like galaxies and stars, I would also appreciate those glow in the dark stars you can stick on the ceiling."

"Certainly, you can leave it with me. Would you like paintbrushes for your paint?"

"Yes, please." The clanking sound came from the box again, and once it had stopped, he opened the box to retrieve the paintbrushes.

He took care to balance the paint pots and brushes in his arms, and he would hate to accidentally drop the paint and have to redecorate where it landed. The trek back to his room was almost agonising. The mountain was too quiet for Phantom's liking. When he had got back to his room, his thoughts were starting to surround him. 

He made quick work of turning back into Danny once the door was closed behind him and digging out his phone to put on some music. He settled on shuffling songs by Panic at the Disco. He worked fast with the paint and soon enough he was lying on his bed that had been pulled into the middle of the room, sure the walls would need a second coat, but that could wait until tomorrow. For now, he laid on his bed, and with his chest heaving with soft pant escaping his lips.

Danny wondered. He wondered about Felix and Jenny; he wondered if they were safe and or together. He understood why the CPS had come in and taken them away. He saw the subways state after the vines tore it apart, it was not safe for a rat to live in, let alone multiple children. But that didn't stop him from worrying about them; he knew that some foster home that children were sent to was not safe for children. That they would come out with more scars than when they went in. He hoped and prayed they weren't in a home like that.

He wondered what he would be doing right then if his family was still around. He was sure that Jazz and he would have rewatched Hamilton at some point, Jazz always sang Hamilton's parts and truly Danny didn't mind. It gave him something to do with his sister that wasn't psychology related. She would have been at college by then, he realised. She was meant to go in September, just gone. She would have been at college.

His mom and dad most likely would have been in the basement working on who knows what, they would have forgotten about dinner and Jazz, and he would have had to order pizza for all of them again. At least they would have had decent leftovers the next day. He missed the sounds of his home, the clattering coming from the basement, the music coming from Jazz's room or a boyband he didn't bother to learn the name of—the gentle hum of the machinery in various parts of the house.

Sam and Tucker would have most certainly been over, either watching movies, playing video games, catching up on late homework and maybe just a bit of ghost fighting. He wondered how their parent was coping with the loss of their children, it's always hard knowing you outlived your own child, no matter who you are.

His thoughts wandered to his teacher, Mr Lancer. He certainly missed his odd use of book titles instead of cursing. How was his parent's coping? 

Danny didn't realise he was crying until he shut his eyes.

He never even got to go to their funerals.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter was really hard for me to write. I'm not good with grief and writing it down, I've lost enough people in my life to know its incredibly hard and it changes you as a person. I had to write this chapter in small parts just to get it written, so sorry for the long wait.


	17. Chapter 16

Five days after Danny cried himself to sleep, nothing fascinating had really happened. The new furnishing for his room was finally delivered, the team insisted on giving him a hand moving everything in. Connor picked up the beanbag and other heavy items with ease, the others each grabbing something.

"Guys, really, you don't need to do this," Phantom stated as he flew after them, new bedding and the glow in the dark stars in his arms, "I can make my room up myself."

"Nonsense, you are our friend, we are happy to help," Kal replied with a nod of his head. In his arms, he carried a midnight blue rug that had golden star constellations decorating it. 

Phantom was glad that he ended up speaking to that computer that day, the items it chose were high quality and all space related. 

"Dude, why wouldn't we help?" Wally shrugged as they reached his room. Phantom opened the door for all of them, as each door had a password for each of the Mountain's residents. They all entered the room and put the smaller items on the bed while the bigger items were placed just outside his bathroom.

"This was an excuse to see my room, wasn't it?" Phantom sighed as he started changing his bed to one of the new sheets. The new duvet cover was black with white planets, starts and dotted lines covering it; the top pillowcases were the same while the bottom pillowcases and the fitted sheet were black. There were some extra pillows in the shape of golden stars, but M'gann held them for the time being.

"Of course not, we wouldn't do that," Robin replied with a smirk on his face.

"We did," Artemis stated, the other's slightly glared at her for giving them away. Phantom only chuckled at their antics.

"I don't mind, to be honest, I'm glad you guys decided to help, despite the ulterior motives." He noticed Robin and Wally looking around his room the most. It looked they were looking for something, may be proof of the stuff that he stood them ages ago. Then Robin's eyes zeroed in on the backpack just under his desk, Wally followed Robin's gaze and furrowed his brows in confusion over the backpack.

"How come you have a backpack?" Wally asked as he stared at the said item. The question came out without thinking about it properly. Phantom followed his gaze to his purple backpack; it still had Sam's doodles over them, badges that reminded him of Tucker and Jazz, and a little ghostbusters emblem in memory of his parents. He was losing his focus to his thoughts of his friends and family when he panicked slightly. It could connect him back to being Danny Fenton if he wasn't careful enough with his answer.

"Phantom, are you alright?" Connor asked. Phantom turned his gaze to the younger; he supposes he was younger since he had just been born earlier that year, was born the right word? Connor had a look of subtle worry on his face, to anyone else it looked like he was scowling. Still, after spending days in the mountain with only M'gann and Connor to hang out with, as well as them being his main friends at school, he had learnt their tells pretty quickly.

"Fine," he sucked in a shaky breath, "It's full of stuff from when I was alive, I haven't had the guts to open it yet." That was somewhat true. He hadn't had the heart to open the bag since the incident. He was using a different backpack for school that was currently on his back in his human form.

After that, the room went silent, both Robin and Wally looked guilty, Wally for bringing the subject up and Robin for leading Wally towards it. 

Aqualad put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "If you ever wish to talk, or want friends around when you do open it, we will be here for you." Phantom looked over to the Atlantean; a gentle smile was on his face.

"Thank you."

"Oh, hello Megan. I forgot, we thought of a name to call you, you know something more casual." M'gann exclaimed and gently hitting her forehead. Phantom perked up at this and stared intently at her, and he was curious to what they had come up with. When did they even have the time? He was always there. "What do you think of the name Shaun?" She asked tentatively.

"I-," well, that name was certainly unexpected, "I like it." He replied. She squealed in delight and ran over to squeeze him into a hug. 

After she released him, the team continued helping decorate the room. Robin was putting up the poster and set up a TV with a gaming system, Phantom may or may not have mentioned to him he was a huge fan of DOOM. Wally and Kaladur were putting up LED lights around the room, Connor was moving the furniture so that it could be of better use and making room for the belongings. M'gann helped Phantom place the glow in the dark stars on the ceiling, both of them loving the stars they knew the right constellations and had the ceiling astronomically correct.

They spent the rest of the night watching movies, playing video games and genuinely having fun in their time off. After all, Batman had informed them that they were trying something new the next day. Soon they fell asleep and tomorrow arrived.

The justice league had come up with a new way to train the team. It was a worst-case scenario exercise. Martian Manhunter would connect the team's minds and create a scenario that they would have to get through, it was designed to fail, but they knew that it wasn't real, and the league assured them that it was perfectly safe.

"Phantom?" Martian Manhunter called. He was standing near the team who were laid down in a circle on uncomfortable looking cots.

"Yes?" Phantom hesitantly replied, disliking the way the league was glancing at him.

"Will you be joining the team?" Why were they all looking him as batman spoke? Like he would bend to their whim and change his mind.

'Yeah, you know what, go on then, put me in a fake sleep and make my dreams try to kill me. Sounds like fun! Not.' It's not like Phantom would ever say that out loud to the faces of the most renown heroes, though he's pretty sure Martian Manhunter heard him anyway.

"No thanks, I don't want anyone poking around in my mind." Some of the league looked annoyed at Phantom's declaration, and the other's looked confused and concerned. Batman and Martian Manhunter both just nodded and turned their focus back to the team.

Before he knew it, the team were 'asleep' and dealing whatever hellscape Martian Manhunter was putting them through. All was going well until Miss Martian's brows scrunched and J'ohn, for once, didn't look calm.

"I've lost contact." He spoke softly.

"Wha-what does that mean?" Phantom asked as he stared at the team who looked lifeless as they laid there.

"It means that they no longer remember that this is a training exercise; they will believe what they are experiencing is real." The Martian explained grimly to the only team member that was not taking part.

"What?! Can't you pull them out? End it now?" Phantom flew closer to the team, hovering between Wally and Robin.

"Unfortunately, I cannot, Miss Martian her emotions have taken over, and I can no longer control the situation." 

"Well, how long before they wake up by themselves?" Phantom all but demanded. After his words, Artemis gasped, her eyes shot open, and she bolted upright. A scream danced on her lips, but she quickly swallowed it down, Phantom instantly shot over to her and wrapped her in a hug, she shivered at the cold contact but wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into his shoulder. 

"I'm- I'm not dead?" She faltered.

"No, no, you're not; it was a training exercise." Phantom explained to her as he held her close but loose.

"I-I was vaporised."

"It wasn't real." He turned to Manhunter in an almost glare, "We need to do something, now."

"You two go in, tell the team that none of it is real, and then we'll be able to pull them out," Batman spoke plainly and calmly cutting off any chance of a potential squabble.

Phantom had no time to process what had been said, he saw J'ohn nod, and the next thing he knew his mind was going fuzzy, he couldn't concentrate on anything. Artemis, who was still in his arms felt more like a cloud than a person, then he felt himself being lowered until he was lying down on his back, his arms no longer full of cloud. His eyelids grew heavy, and his breathing picked up, he didn't understand what was going on.

"Wha- hap'n'in'?" He brokenly murmured before his eyes closed.


	18. Chapter 17 - Failsafe part 1

The air was stuffy, dusty and hard to breath when Danny woke up. He opened his eyes only to find he was completely encased in darkness, and he didn't understand why, where was he? He tried to move, to push himself up off the dusty, rough ground only for his back to hit something hard and solid. Danny turned himself over, so he back was lying flat against the ground and ran a hand along the surface that was trapping him. It fell cold, rough but stable, was he trapped under concrete?

Danny seemed to realise that he wasn't at school or in his room at Mount Justice, so what was he doing in his human form? He wanted to turn intangible and check out the situation, but know he had to change to do so first, just in case.

"Going ghost." Danny rasped as the dust attacked his throat and made it uncomfortable for him to speak normally. Bright rings circled his body, lighting up the area around him. He noticed a prone body lying a few feet away from him. As the light finished encasing him turning him into his alter ego, he crawled his way over to the unconscious figure. Before he could reach the figure the solid surface above him started to lift off, followed by a gasp and a thud.

The sudden brightness of daylight temporarily blinded Phantom making him cover his eyes against the attack.

"Uncle J'ohn!" A female voice gasped. He recognised that voice, but couldn't quite place it, his brain felt like it had been put through a mincer and tried to be put together again. 

M'gann flew towards her uncle with her arm wide ready to embrace him when Aqualad ran in front of her and spread his arms to stop her. He looked back at her as if they were having a silent conversation again.

"But we saw them get disintegrated, you and Superman and everyone." Superboy blurted out. M'gann was already at her uncle's side helping him stand as he clutched his head.

He barely registered that there was someone beside him helping him to his feet.

"Phantom? You ok, dude?" He took a glance to his right and found Kid Flash helping him to his feet, while on his left Robin slung Phantom's arm over his shoulder to keep him upright.

"S-something's wrong." He faltered as he couldn't put his memories together quite right.

"Yes, I remember, but I cannot remember how I survived or how I arrived here." He took a glance down to his niece unsure of his answer.

"Maybe you were density shifting and the beam passed right through you." M'gann eagerly replied trying to make sense of the situation.

"Scrambling your brains along the way." Robin equally as eager joined in.

"If that's the case how is Phantom here then?" Kid Flash asked as he took Phantom's weight as Robin went to join the conversation.

"Maybe he was, what does he call it? Maybe he turned intangible as the beam hit him, doing the same to him as it did Uncle J'ohn."

"My mind is clouded; I feel certain we had something important to tell you." J'ohn hesitantly replied Phantom had to admit that his brain did feel like someone had whisked it up.

Kid Flash suddenly hit the side of his head with his palm and left Phantom's side almost sending him back to the ground, though Superboy soon took his place.

"I feel like a pass the parcel," Phantom muttered into Superboy's shoulder before the found the strength to right himself. 

Superboy quirked an eyebrow up at him. "Like the children's party game?" He asked.

"That's the one." Superboy didn't bother to respond or ask any more questions. 

Robin and Kid Flash both rushed on top of a destroyed spacecraft, a few members of the military, that Phantom had only just noticed, followed them out, Robin brought up his wrist holo-computer that showed the schematics of the Craft. They seemed to have another conversation inside their heads as Kid Flash pointed to the screen from over Robin's shoulder.

"That must have been what you wanted to tell us!" M'gann all but yelled. This one-sided conversation was giving Phantom whiplash, he had no idea what those sudden outbursts meant and made his twice as confused.

"Wait, wha-" He couldn't finish his sentence as more alien space crafts flew overhead of them blasting lasers at Robin and Kid Flash who just off the top of the destroyed craft to take over behind it. Suddenly two lasers hit the bioship making it seem like it completely disappeared. Phantom noted that it was most likely destroyed since both J'ohn and M'gann reeled back and yelled in pain. Both of them fell to the ground panting and shaking.

"M'gann!" Superboy yelled as he ran over to check up on her, at the same time Aqualad ran over to J'ohn. He pulled her into his arms, her eyes were wide as planets and silent tears were running down her cheeks.

"That didn't feel like-" She cut herself off.

The military, Robin and Kid Flash ran back through the glass doors into Hall of Justice. "We're trapped." The military man with the most stars, summarised. 

Aqualad simply stood in front of what Phantom was a wall and it automatically slid open. "Maybe not." Everyone filed into the empty open room, the military taking point to make sure it was truly safe. Aqualad ran in with Mr Stars, M'gann helping J'ohn behind them followed by more military. Phantom simply floated after them, not feeling steady enough to use his feet. "We can all zeta to the cave if you," He glanced back to J'ohn "can grant us computer clearance to access the tubes." They stopped in front of the closed of zeta tube.

"I can only authorise one at a time." 

"Send the soldiers first." There was no hesitation in Auqalad's voice.

Mr Stars spoke up, "belay that. You six are assets we cannot afford to lose."

J'ohn turns to Aqualad and nods. "Override: Martian Manhunter, zero-seven."

 **"Recognised: Access Granted."** The zeta voice chimed in as the doors opened. The inside of the zeta tube looked scarily similar to the ghost portal. It looked just like the inside of the thing that he partially died in. He had managed to avoid the zeta tubes up until now, just using his flight and Constantine's summoning circles to get around. But now he was face to face with the machine. Subconsciously his breathing picked up as he floated back to the ground and stumbled once his feet touched the solid floor, his vision started to wobble as colours danced in front of him.

"Dude, dude, Phantom, er... Shaun, you need to calm down, ok?" Suddenly Kid Flash was in front of him with hands on his shoulders. "Look we need to get out of here now, I'm sorry about this." Kid Flash helped lift Phantom up by his upper arms and dragged him towards the swirling vortex of death. Phantom struggled against him all the way there, digging his feet into the ground and trying to twist out of his grasp, for a moment he forgot that he was half-ghost and could turn intangible to escape.

 **"Phantom, B-zero-seven.** " Just as Danny was shoved into the zeta tube an explosion sounded out behind them. He couldn't register what it was or where it came from when he was suddenly faced with the inside of Mount Justice. 

**"Kid Flash, B-zero-three."** A moment later Kid Flash was flying through the zeta tube backwards, like Phantom it seems like he was tossed through. 

After Kid Flash, a member of the military, **"Private Jason Bard, U.S.M.C. A, -zero-four,"** walked through followed closely by Superboy, **"Superboy, B-zero-four"**. Finally, Martian Manhunter came flying through almost landing on top of Phantom, who was still on the ground staring at the death (teleporting) machine.

"Hey, hey, Shaun? You gotta come back to us, buddy." Abruptly there was bright yellow in front of him. He looked up slightly seeing the worried face of his friend. "That's it dude, come on." He gripped Phantom's upper arm to help him to his feet and not drag him up that time.

"S-sorry," Phantom mumbled.

"It's ok, what are friends for. But what happened back there? You seemed fine then you were having a panic attack out of nowhere." So that was why Phantom was struggling to breathe and see clearly.

"It looked like the portal." Phantom's voice was barely above a whisper, but it was loud enough for Kid Flash to hear him.

"Well, yeah, it's a zeta tube, it is a portal." Wally didn't understand what could have caused Phantom, er, Shaun, to freak out so much.

"I died in a portal," Well now Wally felt like a complete idiot, "It looked exactly like-" Phantom cut himself off. He glanced at the others who were helping the surviving military personal and Martian Manhunter who was still gripping his head in pain. Wally set him down on one of the sofa's and sat next to him.

"I'm sorry dude, I didn't even think-" Wally took a moment to think about what's was going to say next, something to reassure the dead teen, "You know we'd never force you into a situation- no Bat's does that with missions... Ok I'm not good at this, but I want you to trust me when I say, I won't ever do anything that will risk your life, er, afterlife. But Back there the situation was dire, and we needed you to go through the zeta tube, we couldn't afford to lose you as well." Wally finished his mini-rant unable to look at him.

"I trust you." Phantom's words were still shaky. But when Wally looked to him, he saw an unsure teenager smiling at him to reassure him, like he hadn't just been faced with something that reminded him of his death. "Thanks," _for keeping me alive_ went unsaid between them.


	19. Chapter 18 - Failsafe Part 2

Happy Harbour was dark and oddly quiet. The whole of America seemed to be quiet with the loss of their heroes. Inside Mount Justice, Martian Manhunter was sat on a cot still clutching his head, Robin, Kid Flash, Superboy and Miss Martian surrounded him talking about their game plan to defeat the aliens attacking their home and family.

"Our mission is clear. If we believe the aliens have been teleporting victims-" Robin started but was quickly interrupted by Kid Flash.

"We do."

"Then the only reasonable detention facility is here." he projects the image of the alien's mothership up in the Mountain on his holo computer built into his glove. "Their mothership. Atop what used to be Smallville." he turns to J'ohn. "Ring any bells?"

The older Martian slowly stands up and shakes his head in a 'no'. "No. I'm sorry." He quickly goes back to rubbing his head.

"Superboy, you'll create a distraction." Robin began.

"No!" M'gann shrieked as she turned to Superboy, "He's offering you as a sacrifice. Aqualad would never do that."

"Yeah, well, Aqualad is gone," Phantom snapped, "he sacrificed himself and left us without any direction, sure what he did was noble, but he left you lot to die. At least Robin has a plan."

"Right," Robin nodded to Phantom in thanks, "Superboy is the most likely to be perceived as a threat, motivating the aliens to deploy."

"Worst case, he's teleported inside, and we set him free along with Artemis. And, uh, Aqualad and everyone." Kid Flash assured. He took a glance at Phantom, who started to look more like himself after the panic attack. He was floating rather than standing, still not trusting his legs to hold his weight. 

"Wait, what do you mean 'left _you lot_ to die'?" M'gann whirled around to face the ghost teen. She was almost seething in anger at the whole situation.

"Have you really forgotten that I'm already dead?" Phantom deadpanned as he raised an eyebrow at her.

M'gann opened her mouth, looking like she was about to start yelling again when Superboy cut her off. "It's okay, M'gann. It's what Superman would do." She looked hesitant, then disappointed but didn't say anything else.

"Hey, so I have a question," Phantom interjected catching everyone's attention, "so, when you go silent then suddenly start talking about something new that definitely had context behind it, what's that about?" He called them out.

The other's looked at each other silently and exchanged glances. "You're not a part of the mind link?" Robin asked.

"Mind what now?" Phantom blinked as he stared at them. Robin, Superboy and Kid Flash all stared at Miss Martian for a moment, who sighed and shoved her hands into the air. 

_"Can you hear us now?"_ The voice sounded like Robin, but he never saw his lips move.

_"What the fu-"_

_"He can hear us!"_ He stared at Kid Flash.

"So, you've been talking to each other through a telepathic link Miss M created?" 

"Pretty much, yeah." Superboy answer for them.

"Cool." Phantom looks around the mountain nervously. He didn't like that they didn't just explain it to him with words, he would have preferred that having someone's voice suddenly pop up in his head. While they were all planning their next action, Phantom set up a small platform with cameras to broadcast a message across the world. He impressed himself, truthfully, Tucker would be proud. "Cameras are set up for you guys."

The four of them moved in front of the cameras, ready for the broadcast to begin. Phantom hit the button when Robin nodded to him. 

"And though we know all seems lost...the one thing the aliens cannot destroy is hope."

"Hope survives because the battle is not over. Not as long as even one of us is willing to fight."

"It doesn't matter how many fall for new heroes will always rise to carry on bringing all their resources, their skills, their talents to bear, to defeat the enemy."

"The people of Earth will survive this. We will rebuild, and we will thrive. **Never** doubt and **never** forget. The Earth will **never** surrender."

All seemed too quiet after their speech. They were all getting ready for the attack. Superboy handed Robin a belt full of explosive charges that he strapped over his chest, M'gann was meditating trying to keep herself calm. Wally was eating a marathon, getting as many carbs as he could so that he wouldn't run low at any moment. And Phantom, he was glancing at all of them.

He knew there was something important he had forgotten that he had to tell them. What was it? It was important. He knew that much; Batman had told him so. Batman. When had he spoken to Batman? Batman had told him to say to the team- What? Damnit he couldn't remember.

"Guys, its time," Robin announced to the others. Miss Martian and Phantom was flying them to Smallville in the thick of the night. Robin scoped out the area surrounding the mothership as Miss M approached him from behind when they landed. "I want you to stay close to J'ohn; he's still a bit..." He didn't say anymore but made a shaky hand gesture that Miss M knew the meaning.

She didn't like that she was being told that she had to stay behind and cover them, she wanted to be in action and fight for the planet she had come to love. But she nodded in agreement anyway.

"First team, deploy." He commands. Both J'ohn and Miss M take flight, she lifts her hood while J'ohn takes the lead in front of her and takes her hand as they turn invisible. They move towards the Mothership, bypassing the ships defence system. J'ohn places his hand on the ship and grabs Miss M's wrist as they density shift through the hull.

 _"Ready, In position."_ Phantom flinched as he heard her voice inside his head. It brought back a lot of bad memories of when he was under Freakshow's control. He shook his head, can't start thinking of those things now. Unfortunately for Phantom, his small flinch didn't go unnoticed, Kid Flash, Robin and Superboy all exchanged a look before focusing on their goal. _"Be careful, Connor. I love you."_ That brought out a small dopey grin from the Kryptonian.

Superboy turned to Robin, who gave a small nod to him. Superboy leaps from his place beside Robin and aims for the ship. He lands on the hull with a heavy thud crashing into the walls. He sets his sights on the first artillery gun he can see and yanks at it, pulling it from its socket. Before he can do any more, the Boy Wonder stops him through the mind link.

_"Careful. Don't disconnect the power source."_

While keeping the gun elevated, he reaches under it and feels around the exposed bottom and found the trigger. "All right, you glorified trespassers! You wanna see how a real alien fights?" Superboy bellows into the air as he starts shooting the other guns near him. The hanger opened below him, and the crafts start flying out in crowds. 

_"Now or never,"_ Superboy calls to the three remaining teammates.

Robin hopped on Kid Flash's back while Phantom floated right behind them if they didn't make it Phantom was their contingency plan to get them into the mothership. Kid Flash kicks up speed and jumps off the cliff edge towards one of the open hangar doors, they both landed perfectly into a roll with Phantom quickly following behind them. Phantom was working the whole time on autopilot; he knew he had to follow the boy wonder and the speedster into the fray, and that's exactly what he did as his mind wandered. He was trying to work out what Batman had told him what their mission was.

"Wake up." He mumbled to himself. He wasn't quite sure where it had come from, why was waking up so important?

"You say something, P?" Robin called back to him. He couldn't afford to have any of his team distracted if they even wanted a tiny fraction of a chance of coming out of this alive.

"No, nothing important." Phantom dismissed. If it were important, it'd come back to bite him. He only zoned out for a moment, but when he came back to his senses, they were watching a patrol drone lazily saunter by while another one dropped down behind Kid and Robin. Phantom shoots an ecto-beam at it at the same time a solid crate crashed against it. Both the blast and the crate caught the two's attention. They watch at two translucent figures of the Martians land before they all take off one again with Robin leading.

There's a sudden emptiness in the mind link causing Miss M to stop in her track, decloak herself and lost her balance, falling into her uncle's arms as she clutched her head. _"No. He's gone."_ She drops to her knees as sobs wrack her body, Kid Flash approached her.

"It's all right. We'll find him with Artemis. I know it." Phantom pondered this, but all his mind could focus on was wake up, wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Wake. Up.

"No." Martian Manhunter interjects, "My mind is clearer now. The disintegration beam is exactly that. There is no detention facility, no prisoners to rescue. Our mission holds no purpose." 

Wally suddenly grasps the older Martian by the front of his cape. "No! You're wrong. The Zeta Radiation proves she's alive. She's-!" Robin grabs his shoulder, turning the speedster to face him, he holds him still, grounding him by gripping both of his shoulders.

"Stop it, KF. I've been scanning for League and Team signals since we got inside. They're not here. Artemis is gone." Wake up. Wake up. Wake. Up.

"I remember seeing Artemis," all of them suddenly turned to face the spirit, "she was scared, she said something. But that was after she woke up."

"Don't give him false hope, P-" Robin almost snarled.

"I'm not, I remember. We need to wake up." All of a sudden, it seemed like a lightbulb went off in Martian Manhunter's mind.

"I had forgotten. You will have to forgive me for this." He suddenly lifted the speedster from his spot and snapped his neck. It happened so fast that if they had blinked, they would have missed up. Miss Martian let out an ear-piercing scream as the limp sight of her friend in her uncles' grasp. He drops Wally to the ground and moves towards Robin, who turned his back on the Martian in attempts to get away. J'ohn grabbed the Boy Wonder and enclosed him in a tight bear hug until he too went limp.

"U-uncle J'ohn?" Miss M questioned as she grabbed Phantom to try and get them away. But Phantom wasn't moving, his hair covered his eyes, and his face was completely emotionless. "P-Phantom? Shaun?"

"We end this now," J'ohn spoke with such force that it almost sounded akin to a snarl. Swiftly her uncle was in front of her. His hand plunged into her chest. Tears spring from her eyes as they silently make their way down her cheeks.


	20. Chapter 19 - Failsafe Part 3 - Aftermath

The team woke with a start. It takes them all a moment to realise that they are not dead and for half of the team to realise that Martian Manhunter had not killed them. M'gann takes a glance at her teammates, sighing in relief that they are all there, and although they look shook up, they are alive.

"What happened in there?" Batman asked the older Martian.

"The exercise, it all went wrong," he responds, looking dejected.

"Exercise?" Robin asked as he slowly sits up, looking just as confused as the rest of the team.

"Try to remember." Batman insisted to his young protege. "What you experienced was a training exercise."

The team, except Artemis, all look confused. They were sure what they had just experienced was real. It felt real, looked real, so how wasn't it real? Wally and Kaldur were lying back, trying to process everything that went on, Connor was propped up and staring at the ground in front of him as he petted Wolf. And Robin was leaning on his elbow as he looked at his mentor, Captain Marvel and Martian Manhunter not far behind the bat.

"Manhunter psychically linked the six of you within an artificial reality," Batman began the explanation, "you all knew this going in. What you didn't know was that it was a train-for-failure exercise. No matter what the Team accomplished, the scenario was designed to grow worse. Still, you were aware nothing was real, including the deaths of the entire Justice League."

"That was why you hardly grieved," J'ohn took over, "Even when Wolf was disintegrated before your eyes." Connor subconsciously pulls Wolf closer to him and scratches him behind his ears. "But all that changed when Artemis died. Though consciously Miss Martian knew it was not real her subconscious mind could not make that distinction. She forgot it was only an exercise. And her subconscious took control, making all of you forget too."

The team all glance at a growingly distraught M'gann, "I'm, uh, I'm- I'm so sorry." she struggled to look at her team and mentors.

"This isn't her fault! Why didn't you stop the exercise?" Connor growled, blaming the entire mishap on the people that were supposed to be keeping them safe.

"We tried. Phantom and I went in to try and stop it," Manhunter says firmly. "But M'gann had a death grip on the scenario. I realized I would have to wrestle control from Miss Martian's subconscious from within. But upon entering the reality I was overwhelmed by your collective emotion. There was too much noise to think clearly to remember why I was there, causing Phantom to forget his purpose there too." 

"Phantom, he ended up remembering." Robin thought out loud, "he told us to wake up, is that why you went all terminator on us?" J'ohn nodded in response.

"Er," Artemis cleared her throat casting attention on to her, "speaking of Phantom, why hasn't he woken up?" She looked down. Everyone else followed her gaze. In her arms, laid next to her was Phantom's prone body, most thought it was an illusion, but they swear that his body looked like it was flickering in and out of existence. The grip Artemis had on Phantom was white-knuckled as if she let go of him, he would disappear forever.

Martian Manhunter hovered a hand over Phantom's head as his eyes turned white. "He is choosing not to come out, there is a lot of anger in his mind." 

"Send me in there," Batman commanded.

"Bats, are you sure?" Robin spoke up, shocked that the dark knight would want to enter someone else's mind.

"I brought him into this, he is my responsibility." J'ohn nodded to his fellow hero and took him into the ghost teens mind.

The next thing Batman register was that he seemed to be in a blizzard, snow and ice was raging all around him with no sign of Phantom anywhere.

"Phantom! We need to talk." Batman called into the abyss.

"Why should I talk to you? You betrayed my trust!" The abyss called back raging; the blizzard picked up.

"Please Phantom." The blizzard abruptly stopped, and everything went still. A light flashed, momentarily blinding the bat. Instead of snow and white surrounding him, he stood in what looked to be a school’s football pitch, the bleacher surrounding the pitch was completely empty. There were banners surrounding the bleachers with Casper Ravens on them with the colours red, white and black. He takes another glance around and notices that the surrounding are awfully dull, and the bleachers weren't as empty as he thought. There sat the lone figure of Phantom.

"I suppose you were on your high school’s football team?" Batman asked, trying to ease the tension between them.

"Not even in the slightest," Phantom sighs, "Why'd you do it? Why'd you send me in when I explicitly said no? More than once I might add."

"It was the best option we had-"

"That still doesn't excuse that fact that you sent me into a dooms-day dream without my consent."

"Why didn't you want to do it?"

"I don't have to explain anything to you!" He shouts and for a moment Batman was attacked by snow. Phantom slowly composed himself, taking several deep breaths to stop himself for attacking the inconsiderate bat in his own mind.

"Help me to understand." Phantom debated telling Batman about Freakshow and how he used his mind against him.

"People have reasons for saying no to things, and to just disregard that for your own benefit, that's beyond inhumane." Phantom explained as calmly as he could.

"Then what's your reason?" Batman was really pushing this to Phantom's annoyance.

"Cause I had my mind taken over before, making me do things I didn't want to do, things that hurt people. I hate not having a choice when it comes to my own mind, I hate that bloody mind link the team have when instead of telling me about it they just invaded my mind! I hate that I was pulled into a mind thing that I didn't want to be a part of in the first place, and I hate that you've entered my mind and demanded answers from me! Is that enough or shall I go on?" The blizzard once again picks up in Phantom's mind and Batman feels himself being pushed out.

He was blinded once again by a bright flash and when he opened his eyes, he was back in Mount Justice. Batman takes a heavy sigh.

"What happened?" Robin asked his mentor.

"My apologies. I had no idea a training exercise could be so dangerous… so damaging. In more than one way."

M'gann turned away for her teammates and the now awake Phantom, her hands were covering her face. Captain Marvel approaches the distressed teen and wrapped her into a much-needed hug.

They caught the end of Martian Manhunter's and Batman's conversation that they only just realised was taking place.

"You under state it.” Martian Manhunter presses. "In terms of raw power, she has the strongest telepathic mind I have ever encountered." M'gann sobs in Captain Marvel’s arms. "Stronger by far than mine."

"Phantom, you're awake," Artemis stated as she finally noticed the awake ghost teen in her arms. In response, he shrank into himself and turned himself invisible. Artemis frantically looked around herself for him since she could no longer physically feel him.

"Give him some time," Kaldur reassured the young archer, "he probably just needs some space."

"I'll set you all up to talk to Black Canary tomorrow until you feel like you no longer need to, Phantom included," Batman stated as he walked to the zeta tubes, Robin quick on Batman's heels. The other soon followed going to their own homes, for M'gann and Connor to their own rooms.

That atmosphere of Mount Justice was heavier than it had ever been before. Every member had felt the pressure of the world falling upon them, all of them unnerved and scared by the event that had just taken place. None of them would be sleeping soundly, not for a while at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okie, so I need some help. Can anyone tell me anything to do with American Football, she I’m British and the only thing I know is that it’s like Rugby but with shoulder pads. I promise it’s relevant to the next chapter, which is probs giving a huge hint of who’s gonna be in it.
> 
> Any help is super appreciated!!!


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